Alone
by Catlin42
Summary: Max ends up in an orphanage where she meets Fang. Fang gets adopted and Max goes to several foster homes. They never thought they would see each other again, but find each other several years later. AU Fax btw summary made by: bookworm :D i dont own MR!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**Max's POV**

I was young when my parents were killed. I was 4 to be exact unfortunately I could and still can remember every single thing that happened that night. From the look in my parents' eyes to the moment they died. It went something like this…

*********************** 11 years earlier *****************************

I was lying on my back looking up at the ceiling and how the shadows played across it because of the fire going in the fire place.

I was completely spaced out when daddy came home. When he came into the living room where mommy and I where I looked over at him. He looked so tense that I thought if the logs moved in the fire place he would jump up and on to the roof. "What's wrong, daddy?" I asked as he took mommy's arm and lead her into the kitchen. "Nothing, dear." he said as he mommy disappeared from sight. I was confused about this but I didn't try to ease drop like I normally did. I was too mesmerized by the shadows on the ceiling. They looked like the wings of birds and, even at that age, I loved birds.

There was a crashing sound and a lot of screaming. I got up and ran for the kitchen where mommy and daddy where. I slid to a stop in the door way of the kitchen.

There were three men there. They had on black ski masks which freak me out. Two of them had mommy's and daddy's arms twisted behind their backs and had guns pointed to their heads. The other man was talking to them. Mommy was crying, daddy said something and the man slapped him across the face.

My hand came up and wrapped itself around my mouth. The man who slapped daddy screamed at him and told his men something. Then there were two shots. Blood flew and their bodies fell to the floor.

"No!" I screamed as if it would prevent them from dying. All three men looked at me and I looked at them. They moved a little bit, probably to go for their guns, and I took off running.

I ran to my room and dove into my closet. In my closet was a little door that went to the attic. A opened the door and crawled through. Once in I closed it back and crawled to the farthest corner of the room and curled into a little ball. I heard as they moved around looking for me. They didn't find me though. The reason they didn't was because the police got there a minute or two after the shots went off. I heard running and shouting. After a while I heard the horrible sound of a gun then more shots.

This just made me curl up into an even smaller ball. I again heard the sound of talking and footsteps. After a while I heard a knocking on the door to my hide away. There was more talking and then the door was kicked in. once the door was moved away a man in a police uniform came in. he looked around and nearly didn't see me. He did a double take and his eyes widened. He tried to talk me into coming with him. Asked me if I was ok and all but I just refused to answer him. I couldn't. Not with my heart shattered into a billion pieces and was still beating a million miles a second.

Eventually he gave up and got a professional to do it. It took the professional person a few hours to get me out and I would hit anyone who tried to touch me. It wasn't very hard but it got my point across. I was sent to the hospital in hopes of seeing if I had any injures. After a few hours of me hurting anyone who got too close they just shot me up with some drug that makes you go to sleep. I eventually woke up and was taken to the orphanage.

*********************** End flash back***************************

I still hadn't told anyone much of anything except to yell at them not to touch me or to make a sarcastic remark (it was funny that they thought a four year old couldn't understand sarcasm much less use it against them). They sent me to a shrink. He said the experience had made me extremely paranoid. No one thought I would ever trust anyone ever again. That's where they were wrong though…

************************* 10 years earlier ****************************

I was sitting on the roof of the orphanage, like I often did, and stared out at the, seemingly, endless trees and hills and mountains. I would hike around the forest when I thought I could get away from the adults but that wasn't nearly as often as I would have liked.

As I stared off I heard a car coming up the drive. I looked over and saw that it was a regular car that you would see here every day. _Might be someone here to pick up a kid_ I thought to myself as I watched the car approach. When it was close enough I saw that there were only two people in the car and one was about my size. _No_, I corrected myself, _someone's being dropped off_.

I watch as the driver parked the car and got out to grab the bags from the trunk. A boy dressed in black cloths and a shaggy hair doo got out the back seat and looked around. I looked him over and figured he was about my age and we would be an even match in strength. I wasn't sure but I was a pretty go judge at this sort of thing what with the overly paranoid thing and all. He looked up as if he could feel me staring at him. Our gazes locked and, for once, no one looked away.

Normally when I looked people in the eye they got scared or something and never wanted to do it again. Even the grownups are like that. This boy, though, didn't seem to react the same way as everyone else. He didn't look away. He didn't get an uncomfortable look on his face or in his eyes. He just seemed to look straight through what most people saw, pass through all of my walls, and look right into me. He seemed to read me and I seemed to be able to read him too.

The grownup put a hand on his shoulder and he seemed to jumped up, spin to face her, and switch from stare to glare in a matter of a second or two. I smirked at this because I actually thought this was kind of funny. Plus I was glad I wasn't the only one who did that sort of thing.

I walked over to the fire escape and ran down it to get to the door I was sure they would come through. I was at the top of the stairs half hidden behind the wall that was there when the woman, leading the boy, came through the door. Kate, one of the few grownups who weren't that afraid of me, answered the door and let them in. She smiled and said hi and all that. She asked the woman what the boys name was.

"Nick. He doesn't answer to his name all that often though." The boy had seen me the minute he walked through the door. When they said his name was Nick he didn't seem too happy about it. I could tell that he didn't like being called that.

I walked out from behind the wall and said "That's not his name." Both of the grownups turned to look at me and both were surprised that I was there in the first place. I never came to say hi to the new kids. I just never did. I don't know why. "What do you think his name is, then?" Kate asked me sounding a little shocked. I was still looking into his eyes and somehow I just knew what his name was. I looked over at Kate and said "Fang."

I smiled at the rightness of it and looked back at the boy. He half smiled at me and nodded, telling me I had gotten his name right. "Umm…" said the woman who had brought him here. We both looked over at her and fixed her with our stares. "I have to go back so I'll check up on you later, ok?" she said to Fang. He nodded slightly and she just about ran out the door. She barely remembered to drop his bags before she went. I walked down the stairs and grabbed one of the bags. He grabbed the other and together we walked up the stairs with me in the lead. I showed him to his room, which was the only empty one in the boys' dorm. Once we had put his stuff in the room I looked over at him and asked if he liked the outdoors. He grinned for the first time it what seemed like a long time for him and he said "Of course."

************************* End flash back ***************************

That day we escape to the forest for the rest of the day. We didn't even bother to come in for lunch because we were having way too much fun among the trees. For then on we were inseparable. We got out as much as we could and ran around as much as humanly possible. All the grownups thought it was a miracle that I would talk to him as much as I did; that I trusted him as much as I seemed to. Of course they didn't know that I trusted him with my life and he trusted me with his. For some reason they just couldn't see that. The world finally seemed right again. Then, just two years later, the worst, most unthinkable thing happened…

************************* 8 years earlier ****************************

Fang and I were out in the forest eat whatever was there that was edible. You know nuts, plants, and various other things. We were hanging out in a tree when we heard Kate calling for us. We hopped down and ran back to the orphanage in a race that we just wanted to do. We got there and Kate was at the door looking at us with a sad smile on her face. Fang and I looked at each other then back at her with worried looks.

"What's wrong, Kate?" I asked her. She was the only adult who wasn't afraid of the two of us and had become like a big sister to Fang and me. "I wanted to tell you that you're both getting adopted." She looked close to tears and I wasn't all the sure why. Yes we would miss her but she seemed really sad and I didn't think that was all of it. "You know Kate we'll be fine. I mean you don't have to worry about us or anything. We'll have each other to help out in a fight or something."

Kate shook her head and said "No, Max, you're not going to the same home. You're both going to different ones." My eyes widened at this. As took this in I just…stop. I stopped blinking, I stopped thinking, I just became utterly unmoving and just not there. After a moment my thoughts went into overdrive but I still wasn't moving. I had a million different thoughts but the one that came up the most was '_I can't be without Fang_.' I know it seems weird but he was the only person in the world who knew me. At all. I mean, sure, Kate knew me but her knowledge of me wasn't even close to what Fang knew. Most of what he knew was because he just looked at me. I wasn't sure what I would do without him.

When I had lost my parents and they had sent me here I had resigned myself to a life of loneliness. When Fang had come though, it was like he had brought back the possibility of living again. Now I didn't know what I was going to do. I looked over at Fang and he looked at me. As if on cue we both hugged each other at the same time. We stayed like that for a while until Fang moved and looked me in the eye.

"I have an idea." he said. I cocked my head to the side to show the question in my head. He nodded his head slightly for me to follow him. I did and he led me to his room. I waited at the door while he rummaged around for something. When he found what he was looking for he got up and came over to me. He held out his head for me take what was inside it. I did. I looked it over and figured out that it was one of those magnetic rocks that we had played around with in class one day. I looked back at him with a question in my eyes. He seemed to tell me his plan without words and we both ran down stairs to make it happen. We told Kate what we wanted to do and she agreed to help us.

Our plan was that we drill a hole through the middle of the rocks and engrave our initials on them. While we were still at the orphanage we would wear the one with our own initial. Then when one or both of us went we would switch them. Once we saw each other again we would switch them back until one of us had to leave again. We worked on this most of the day and when we were done we put them on. Mine had an M on it while his had a F. Then I had an idea. I told Fang and he said

"We can try. I don't think we'll get that lucky though." We ran outside and started looking. We were looking for two hawk's feathers and two raven's feathers. We both loved birds but we each had our favorites. I loved hawks while he loved ravens. I planned on getting two feathers from each bird that way each of us could have on of each. One of the bird we loved and one of the bird that the other loved. Although this was next to impossible I thought that we should still try. We searched for hours but could find any. It was close to the time to go in but I wanted to hang out for a little while on our rock that we found the first day Fang came. We were laying down on the rock when Fang pointed up and said "Look!"

I looked where he was pointing and was just as shocked as he was. It was a hawk and a raven circling us from above. We got up and watched them. After a while I saw something falling down. When it came close enough I caught it and saw that it was a hawk's feather. We stood there as the two birds dropped their feathers. The hawk dropped two feathers including the one that I caught and the raven dropped two of its feathers. We watched them until they left. Once they were out of sight we noticed that it was really late and we decided to go back. We didn't run back like we normally did, though. We walked and had silent conversations. It was nice.

When we got to my room Fang hugged me. After a little while I hugged him back. After a while longer I asked him "What was that for?" Fang didn't just hug people it just wasn't Fang. "I just thought you might need it." he said with a shrug. I smiled and said "Thanks." He looked at me nodded and headed back for his room.

************************** End flash back ***************************

The next day he had to leave and we traded necklace and I wore my feathers in my hair. We hugged for a long time and as I watched the car he was in drive away and out of sight I swear my heart, which was already in a few pieces, completely shattered. I didn't talk to anyone for a long time and the foster home people thought I was a mute. I never did quite get over it. I still haven't talked to anyone. Now I'm fifteen and am, as always, thinking about my life as I stand in front of my new foster home. I was never the same when he left. I know how stupid that sounds but I learned something that day. Intentional or not; if you give your heart to someone, they're always going to find a way to break it.

* * *

What's up people who have read this? This is my first fan fiction but don't take it easy on me. Tell me what you think of it. I really do want to know. Also, everyone who reviews, tell me if you want me to continue. I don't care if that's the only thing you say just tell me! Thanks to everyone who reviews and to those who don't…

REVIEW!!! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Max's POV**

"Wake up Maximum Ride!" my keeper yelled through the house. My eyes snapped open and I shoved my very sore body to its feet. I got my hands up and curled into fists. I had tried this before but I had never been able to land anything that affected him.

Confused now? You probably are. Let me catch you up. Ok, remember all the flashbacks I had earlier? Well the day I left that place, the orphanage, was the day my life took a turn for the worst. I was in various foster homes all of which had something very wrong. It wasn't that the house was bad or the weather was awful, though. It was that in every house one or both of the "parents" had an addiction of some kind. Alcohol addiction, drug addiction, you name it one of them probably had it. That wouldn't have been bad except for the fact that most of them liked someone to slap around which is why they wanted a foster kid.

That was where I came in.

But I don't take being slapped around very well. So then they would get mad at me because I wasn't being corporative enough and would try to hurt me more. Then I would break a bone on them or knock them out, call 911, tell the police it was self defense, and be place into another foster home where the cycle would start all over again.

This went on until the last day of my sophomore year.

I was walking back to the trailer park that my latest foster parents lived at when someone came up behind me and drugged me with something that smelled sickly sweet. I fought as hard as I could but I couldn't get away before I pasted out from the knock-out drug. When I woke up I found myself in a room with one door, no windows, and some rags that were supposed to be blankets, a toilet in the corner, and a shackle and chain around my ankle. It wasn't that long; only long enough for me to reach the toilet and the pile of "blankets" that I had currently been on. After about five minutes a man came in that I later named my keeper. He came up to me and I tried to fight him as he threw me around, punched, and kicked me. Nothing I did seem to affect him though. I landed a few solid punches and kicks but they bounced off of him like they were nothing when I had fit people half as hard and they had folded in on themselves.

I'm not sure how much time has passed since I was kidnapped but I think it might be a week. I really don't know though. He has come in about… 15 or 20 times since I was put in here. Now he was coming back and I was going to fight like hell but I had a feeling that, this time, it might not end to well for me.

**Fang's POV 3****rd**** Person**

"Hey, dude, come on! We're gonna be late if we don't go, like right now!" yelled Iggy from the front door. Fang looked over his shoulder at the house that he had been in for five years today.

He counted himself lucky for finding a home this good. Most foster kids didn't get it this good at his age. Now he was standing at the edge of his yard hoping that the only person in the world that had ever really understood him had it at least as good as he did right now. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried his best to send some sort of message to his old friend. Although crazy he thought it might do some good. Then again maybe not. Who knew? He surely didn't.

After a little while longer he turned and walked back to the house before Iggy, his foster brother, could yell at him again. Iggy was right though, if a little dramatic about it. They needed to set up their gear and stuff before they could play and if they didn't get there with enough time they would start late and that probably wouldn't be a good thing.

"What were you doing down there, dude?" Fang shrugged and walked past Iggy to the truck that was outside. Once they were in the car and on the way there Iggy asked "No, seriously, what were you doing out there?" Fang looked over at Iggy and saw that he really did want to know. He looked out the truck window and watched as the trees and houses pasted by. He wondered for the millionth time where Max was and if he would ever find her out there.

"I was wondering where she was." said Fang. Iggy looked over at him and Fang meant his eyes. They looked at each other for a while since they were stopped at a stop sign. After a while Iggy looked back at the road, started driving again, and, just as Fang thought he wasn't going to say anything else, said "One of these days you will tell me more about her other than that she is the one person that ever really got you. I mean really you could at least tell me her name!" they looked at each other for a moment then started laughing. Well, Iggy laughed. Fang just sort of chuckled. He hadn't really laughed since he had left the orphanage.

After a while they got to the small café in the small town that they held all their gigs at. They walked through the back door and three girls and a boy who all looked over at them. They were greeted with various hi's and hello's. They got all the instruments and wires set up then went into the back for a bit. "So why weren't you guys here when we came? You two always show up before us and start setting up before we get here." said Ella as they waited for the ok from the owner of the café that they could start. "Fang was doing something and won't tell me what and I doubt he'll tell anyone." Iggy turned to Fang and Fang knew he was doing him a favor.

Then Iggy continued, saying "Seeing as he hardly ever talks." Fang rolled his eyes at his foster brother and shook his head while everyone else laughed at Ig's joke. "Ok everyone. It's time for your gig. Oh, and Bridget is waiting for you guys at the front of the stage. " said Mrs. Owens, the café owner and Iggy's, Gazzy's, and Angle's mother. She was also Fang's foster mother and she did a hell of a good job too. "Come on guys. Let's go play some music." said Fang. Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, and Fang all walk on stage and the crowd yelled and whistled excitedly. Little did Fang know, though, that his world was going to take a turn for the… better?

* * *

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! And especially to my first reviewer:

_Vampireacademyrox_

Anyway I think u all know wat I'm going to say…. REVIEW! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Max's POV**

My keeper burst into the room and threw half a beer bottle at me. That was the first time he had ever thrown something at me so I wasn't really expecting it but I dived to the side and managed to just get a small scratch right under my floating rib. Not bad if I do say so myself. Then he came at me with a punch.

By the time he had across the room to me I was on my feet ready to fight. I dodged to one side then punched him hard in his ribs. Then something I never expected to happen happened. He folded in on himself and dropped to his knees onto the floor.

Then it all made sense. The reason he was mad was probably that he couldn't find any drugs in the house and couldn't find any money or find a dealer. The reason I couldn't hurt him before was because he was on PCP or something else that blocks pain. Now he had been off it for a while and could feel every blow that I landed.

I smirked but my small celebration was premature. My keeper grabbed the chain that was still (annoyingly) around my ankle. He yanked it and I lost my balance seeing as I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in however long I had been here for. I hit the ground hard and as if that wasn't enough when I was down he punched me in the stomach.

Hard.

I winced but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I opened my eyes and saw that he was kneeling and looking down at me with a sneer on his face. "Had enough, _girly_."

I narrowed my eyes at him then kicked him right where the sun don't shine. His eyes widened and he sort of slid sideways. It would have been funny if I wasn't in a lot of pain. I got onto my knees, balled my hands into fists, and brought them down onto his temple. His eyes closed and I checked his pulse. He wasn't going to die but he would have a concussion and a nasty headache when he woke up.

I took a deep breath composed my thoughts then started moving. I fished around in his pockets until I found a key ring with two keys on it. I tried the keys on my ankle and the second one worked. After I got it off I then put it around his wrist. Then I went over to the wall and pulled up a small section of carpet and reveled my feathers that I wore in my hair most of the time.

I had been afraid that my keeper would pull them out if he saw them so I hid them under the carpet. I was thinking about putting my necklace there too but it was the only thing that kept me semi hopeful so that idea had quickly vanished.

I picked them up and walked out the room and locked it behind me. I walk across the small hallway and into a bedroom. I assume it was my keeper's because I didn't know if anyone else lived here. I looked around in there to make sure no one was there then swept the rest of the house for people and found none. The last place I swept was the kitchen and that's where I found a phone. I picked it up and called 911.

"Hello, this is 911 what is you emergency?" droned the person on the other end. "Hi" I said not really sure how to explain my situation. After a few seconds of silence the person on the other end asked "What's your emergency?"

"Oh! Right, right uh… could you send over a cop or two please?" I was somewhat confused and a little ruffled because here was a person that wasn't my keeper. By now I had sort of forgotten the rest of the world existed because I had been so intent on escaping for so long.

"Is this some sort of joke? If it is I can get you arrested for this." I sighed then said "Ok. I am asking for police to come right now to this house. Either way I get what I want. So don't even bother threatening me in the first place if it is going to be with the one thing I need right now." There was silence on the other end so I continued. "I mean wouldn't it be more logical to threaten me with not sending the cops over? Seriously people, you have a brain. Use it."

More silence.

I must have done a pretty good job to keep them quiet for that long. Then I heard typing which was soon followed by "The police are on their way. Please stay on the phone until they get there." I rolled my eyes at this latest comment and said "Yea, you just keep thinking I'll actually listen to you."

I then hung up the phone and put it back on the charger. I went back into the bedroom and dug around in his closet. I didn't think the lady was going to take this seriously so I would need to get out of the house looking semi normal if at all possible. I went to the very back and found a checkered button down shirt that still had store tags on it. I got the tags off and put it on over my slightly bloody tank top. I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows and went over to the full length mirror hanging in the bathroom.

I didn't look all that bad. My hair was a rat's nest, but the blood was covered and I didn't have many bruises on my lower arms. I had jeans on and shoes so the rest of me wasn't all that visible. Although one thing that might freak people out was the forming bruise in the shape of hands that wrapped around my neck. He had choked me the last time he had come and I had nearly pasted out.

I had nearly died. But I didn't. I stayed strong and made it through.

I heard a noise and instantly came out of my day dreaming. I crept out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I looked around in there to see if there were any weapons I could use if someone attacked me. There was. There was a switchblade on the nightstand right next to me.

_Cool_ I thought as I picked it up and clicked it open. I went into the still open closet and stayed there while I listened to the sounds of people in the house. There were two of them but that was all I could figure out from where I was at. I heard them at the door they moved through the room as if they were sweeping it. Then I knew what they were going to do next. They were going to check the closet. I realized this a second before a guy came around the door of the closet. He saw I was there, realized I had a weapon, and aimed his gun at my chest, then said "Hands up and drop the weapon. Now."

He was in a uniform with a bullet proof vest on. I realized then that he was a cop. I looked up at his face and saw that it showed barely any emotion. I did see one though. Compassion. He was sorry for me. That I was like I was because of what I had been through.

I shut my face down and said "Well, nice to see that you could join us." He seemed confused and I realized that they hadn't found the secret door in the hall. "There's someone else in the house?" he asked me. His partner then joined in saying "Not possible. We search this whole place and there wasn't anyone here." I rolled my eyes and said "You didn't search this whole place then." The cop that had found me lowered his weapon and said "What do you know? Do you live here?" I put the knife down and said "I know a lot that I don't think you know or even have a clue about but about this house I know very little except about one room. I should too, seeing as I spent the last two weeks there."

Now they both look completely confused. I shook my head and sighed. "Come on. I think you'll want to know about this guy." I brushed pasted the cops and went into the hall. There I fished the keys out of my jeans that really need a good wash and showed the cops. The one who had found me said "What?" I half smiled at his expression and said "Wait for it." Then I put the key into the nearly invisible hole and turned.

I opened the door and there was my keeper still lying on the floor in a slightly crumpled heap. The cops whipped out there weapons again and walked past me and into the room. They hand cuffed him then noticed that he was chained to the floor. "Did you do this?" asked the first cop and I said simple "Yes. Why?"

They blinked at the ease in which I said this then said "What happened here exactly?" I looked down at my keeper, threw the cop the key to the shackle, said "Silver one opens the chain." turned, and walked out of the room. I walked through the house and eventually through the front door that was wide open no doubt because of the cops. I sat down on the steps and ran a hand through my hair. I closed my eyes and tried to empty my mind. I listened as one of the cops dragged my keeper out of his house and into the police car that I had seen parked on the street. Then I heard the other cop sit down next to me.

"Well" he said and I knew it was the one that had found me first "I still need to know that story." I half smiled and chuckled a little bit. I opened my eyes and looked over at this guy.

He didn't seemed fazed that I was bloody, bruised, and just an overall mess. He smiled at me and I said "I'll tell you the story but I can tell you now that you're not going to like it." He shrugged and said "I still need to know that story."

"You don't give up easy, do you?" I asked with a little humor in my voice. He looked me over, looked out over the yard, thinking, then said "How about this? I buy you hot chocolate after you tell me your story. After we're done at the coffee shop we find your parents and get you home. That sound good?" I looked at this guy and saw that he was completely serious.

I was completely taken aback by this random act of kindness by this complete and utter stranger. It's not that I don't things like this are possible it's just that I never thought it would ever happen to me again. I' m not all that social in the first place and anyone who meets me either thinks I'm insane and don't want to be associated with me at all or they think I'm an easy target for bullying. The people who are the second don't think that for too long though. Everyone judges you by the clothes you wear or what your face looks like. The stuff that doesn't really matter to me. They never judge you by how you treat people or what your personality is like. The stuff that really does matter to me. So I'm sorry if I didn't think this normal or something for those of you who are reading this and going "It's not that rare you know."

Anyway.

This guy seemed like he was telling the truth and it wasn't like I didn't think I could take him in a fight so I said "Sure, sounds like a plan." He smiled at me, brought out a little note book and said "Ok I'm going to ask you some questions and you give me the truth. Simple enough right?" I looked out over the yard and said "K."

I heard pages flipping a pen click then he asked "So what day where you kidnapped?" I thought for a moment then said "The 22nd I think. It was a Monday that much I know." He started writing then I heard him stop.

"You've been in there for 2 weeks?" I shrugged then said "I guess. I don't really know how much time past. It felt like that much though." He was quiet for a moment then went on asking "Where and how were you held?"

I looked over at him and said in a duh tone "In the room where you found that guy and I was chained to the floor by my ankle." He looked back up at me, blinked, and then said "How about you just tell me the story and I'll ask questions as needed, you mind?" I half smiled and looked back out at the yard "Sure." I said.

"I was walking back to the house after school when that guy came up behind me and through a hood over my head. It had some sort of knock out drug in it and when I woke up I was chained to the floor by my ankle and locked in a room."

I looked down at the ground beneath my feet just to remind myself that I was free. That I was safe. Well, as I ever was, that is.

"I was in there for maybe 2 weeks then he came in and was sort of off the drug. He could feel pain again. So I fought back and eventually knocked him out. After I knocked him out I got the keys, got out, and found the phone. I called 911 but I didn't think they took me seriously so I went to the bathroom. I figured if I didn't look that bad as I walked to the police station and when I was there you guys would take me seriously. So when you guys came I didn't know if you guys were good or bad. I found the switchblade on the night stand and figured if you guys were bad I could at least wound you enough to get away."

I looked up and into his eyes but I didn't look to deep. I knew if I did I would find sympathy and if I did I would start telling I was ok and he would worry and it would just go downhill from there. "What happened during the 2 weeks you were in there?"

I looked back down at my feet and said "I don't remember much from that time. I know he would come in sometimes and through a water bottle at me but other than that…" I shrugged and he let it go. The truth was that I did remember some but if I started to tell him he would want me to be locked up in the loony bin which I definitely didn't want.

"That's ok. Hey I didn't get your name." I half smiled and said "I didn't get yours either." He smiled back and said "Touché. My name is John. What's yours?" He had his hand out for me to shake. I took it and said "Maximum but call me Max." He looked confused for a moment then shook his head and muttered to himself "It's just a coincidence." I raised an eyebrow at him. He saw the look and asked "What?" It was times like these that I really wished Fang were here with me again.

When we were at the orphanage we could read each other like open books. Now I had to explain everything to everyone. It got a little annoying but it was loneliness more than anything else. You know how you have that one friend that knows you so well that you don't have to say anything and they'll know exactly what mood you're in because you've been around each other for a really long time? Well we were like that but we were around each other for maybe a day or two and could do all of that. He could walk up to me and know exactly what I was thinking and with one look from him I could tell if he agreed or not. I always thought it was great but everyone else thought it was creepy. Now I found myself missing being able to look at him and he and I know exactly what's going on with each other.

"Max!" I heard someone yell and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I reacted on instinct taking the hand from my shoulder and twisting it to wear it was in a painful position. "Aaaaah!"yelled someone.

I blinked and looked at where I was exactly and realized that I had John in a wrist lock and he was currently on the ground writhing in pain. I let go immediately and got up quickly.

He held his wrist to chest and asked me "What did you do that for?" I looked at him and I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't know what I could tell him. I shook my head at him, said "I'm sorry." turned, and ran. I ran as fast as I could and as far as I could because even if I told him I didn't think he would understand.

I didn't think anyone would ever understand.

* * *

I forgot to put these in my earlier chapters so here's the one for the whole thing: I don't own MR! JP does!

There. I said.

Anyway another chapter and I still say the same thing….Review? Please?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

**Max's POV**

I ran down the street and just kept going straight. After a few minutes of passing house after house I finally came to a small town and in this small town was a coffee shop. Just like John had said. I went behind the building and just stood there. Trying to catch my breath. It wasn't like I could do this without having to huff and puff it was that I was running on a bottle of water that I had had that morning and adrenalin. So I didn't really have enough energy to be running that far for that long in the first place.

Anyway, once I didn't look like a fish out of water I walked around to the front of the shop, a little dizzy from the drop in adrenalin, and went into the shop. Inside the place was dark and crowded. I was looking around for a place to sit when a girl, maybe a little younger than me, said "Here's a seat if you want one." She looked Hispanic with her dark eyes and her brown hair. She seemed a little shy and I didn't get anything from her that she was going to be trouble.

I half smiled at her, said "Thanks." and sat down. She beamed at me and asked me excitedly "Have you ever heard them before?" I looked at her with a confused expression and she said "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" I shook my head and said "Nope, not one." She laughed a little at this and said "You're not from around here are you?" I smiled back at her and replied "Na, what tipped you off?"

She giggled at that and said through them "Well, my friend is in a band and they're really popular around here. They're playing tonight and I wanted to know if you had heard them before or if this is your first time. Since you're not from around here I'm gonna assume you haven't." "And you would be very right." I said and she looked at me for the first time and asked "My friend would have a cow if she saw what you were wearing."

She seemed to think about what she said, got a worried look on her face then started "Well, I mean, you see-" I held up a hand and stopped her, then said "It's ok. I've gotten worse comments on how I dress. Yours wouldn't make the top 100. Trust me." and it was the truth.

I would always, no matter where I went, get bugged about how I dressed. It was annoying but interesting to see what they would come up with sometimes. I looked at the girl and she looked relieved. "So" I asked her "is this band any good?" She smiled and said "You'll see." then I heard someone tap on a mic.

I looked to were the noise was coming from, while the rest of the crowd screamed and whistled, and saw a boy about my age in a black button down dress shirt. He had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the shirt wasn't tucked. His jeans were dark and his converses were black too. His hair was, you guessed it, black. It was also floppy and half in his dark, dark eyes. I was all the way in the back of the room but even from here I had this weird feeling that I had seen him before.

"Hey you guys having a good time?" he asked. He was greeted with screams and whistles from the crowd. "Cool." he said looking around at the crowd. His eyes fell on me and the feeling I had had before only grew. "Well I'm going to give this to the guy with the list of songs because he hasn't told me yet." Everyone in the crowd laughed a little bit, but I couldn't do anything.

I was frozen in place by this guy's gaze and I had no idea why. He stared into my eyes a little longer then turned and picked up a guitar from behind him while another guy came up to the mic and started talking. Telling me that he hadn't recognized me but that he thought he knew me. At least I wasn't the only one. I shook my head and turned to the girl that had offered me a seat and whispered "Do you know the people on the stage?" She looked back at me and said "Yep, want me to tell you everyone's name?"

I nodded and she looked back at the stage pointed to the one talking. He had spiky blond hair and blue eyes "That's Jeff but everyone calls him Iggy. I don't think anyone remembers why though." I smiled at that. She pointed at a girl with super curly hair and mocha skin saying "That's my friend, Nugde, because that's what it takes to make her stop talking. Her really name is Monique, though. That's Michel or Gazzy." she said pointing to a boy that looked a little like the one who had been talking. Except the one who had been talking had been my age where as this one was more 8 or 9. "You don't want to know why he's called that." She said with a giggle in her voice. "And that," she said pointing at the dark eyed boy "is Nick but everyone calls him-"

"Ok everybody ready for a good time!" everyone in the shop screamed. I had looked up at the sound and now I looked back at the girl and she mouthed 'Tell you after the song.' I nodded but on the inside I was cussing. I had really wanted to know who that boy was and now I had live with this feeling I knew him from somewhere. Well at least it would only be for a few minutes.

**Fang's POV **

We all went on stage and I went to the mic while everyone else went around the stage doing what they always did. Getting ready to play their hearts out. I grabbed the mic and looked out at the crowd. They had screamed when we had come on and I was waiting for them to quiet down a bit.

I looked out at the crowd, watching everyone, just watching. I looked at all the popular people from school, all the people that weren't. I looked down at the very front of the stage and saw Bridget. She looked up at me and blew me a kiss and gave me a barely concealed, very flirty smile. I suppressed shaking my head in head in disgusted.

Bridget was the most popular girl in school and desperately wanted me to be her boyfriend. When we had made this band we immediately became the most popular people in the school and Bridget immediately made me the subject of her interest. She had tried to kiss me several times and then she had tried out when we were looking for a female singer. She was the best one that we had heard and my friends had asked me several times if I was completely ok with it. We all hated her but we were all willing to let her in the band since she was so good a singer. Secretly, though, we were all on the lookout for a better singer. But it was a small town and although people were ok singers here none of them were as good as her, unfortunately.

"Hey you guys having a good time?" I asked the crowed. Everyone screamed and whistled. "Cool." I said. I looked at the rest of the crowed and saw someone.

I looked at this girl and she just seemed so familiar. She was sitting on a stool next to Ella in the back of the coffee shop. She had long blond hair and chocolate colored eyes. I could tell that she was tall and skinny. She was wearing what looked like a guy's checkered buttoned down shirt and semi dust covered jeans. She seemed a little wired, like she had just come out of a fight or something. She looked right into my eyes and she seemed as confused as I was. I stared at her a little bit longer then turn and picked up my guitar from behind me. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen her before.

I messed around on stage until Iggy got on the mic and said "Ok everybody ready to have a good time!" Everyone screamed again. "Good 'cause we're gonna start off with Car Crash by Matt Nathanson and I did not choose this song. Nudge did." Nudge grinned at Iggy and he shook his head and went over to his drums. Nudge got her tambourine while Gazzy got his guitar. Gaz on bass and me on electric. I walked up to the mic and looked around. After I finished scanning the shop I looked back at the girl. She looked back and I could tell that she recognized me too. Then I started to sing.

**Max POV**

The boy I knew from somewhere looked at me for a little while. Then he opened his mouth and started to sing.

_I'm wide awake and so alive  
Ringing like a bell  
Tell me this is paradise  
And not someplace I fell  
'Cause I keep on fallin' down_

Oh. My. God. This guy could sing. I looked at him and he looked at me and I was absolutely, positively, 99.99% sure that I had seen him before. I just didn't know where or when or anything like that. But I knew that I knew him. God this was seriously annoying the heck out of me!

_I wanna feel the car crash  
I wanna feel the capsize  
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop  
'Til I'm satisfied  
I wanna feel the car crash  
'Cause I'm dyin' on the inside  
I wanna let go and know  
That I'll be alright, alright_

_Just push me 'til I have to fly  
I've shed my skin, my scars  
Take me deep out past the lights  
Where nothing dims these stars  
Nothing dims these stars_

I looked at this boy who was staring at me like I held the secrets of the universe in my eyes. It was like he could see into my soul and read what I was thinking. A bunch of the words he had sung kept running through my head. Fly, scars, stars they kept coming back and I knew they had something to do with remembering who he was.

_I wanna feel the car crash  
I wanna feel the capsize  
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop  
'Til I'm satisfied  
I wanna feel the car crash  
'Cause I'm dyin' on the inside  
I wanna let go and know  
That I'll be alright, alright_

So right  
It's all wrong

I'm wide awake and so alive

Wait. Stars, I went outside all the time but only one person knew that I loved them. Scars, only a hand full of people knew my life's story and those who knew would know that that had left some scars. And flying, only one person in the entire world knew about my semi obsession with birds and they shared it with me. This couldn't be him… could it? 

_I wanna feel the car crash  
I wanna feel the capsize  
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop  
'Til I'm satisfied  
I wanna feel the car crash  
'Cause I'm dyin' on the inside  
I wanna let go and know  
That I'll be alright, alright_

The song ended and he let his guitar swing to the back of him. He had a look on his face that I could read like an open book. '_Is she…?_' is what he was thinking. Then he motioned to the back of the stage. I knew what he meant. He wanted to talk off stage behind the curtain.

I got up and started for the wall because I could see that there was a straight path along it to the bit of the stage that wasn't washed with light. I had made it to the wall when I felt a hand on my arm. I whirled around and there was the girl who had been nice to me. "Hey where are you going?"she asked, as if worried I'd get lost or something.

For the first time in a long time someone was worried about me. I shook the thought from my head though. Once she knew my story or just knew me a little better she would act as if I were the plague just like everybody else. "By the way I never told you my name, its Ella. What's yours?" I blinked a little then said "Maximum." She looked a little puzzled then she got the look on her face that everybody got when I told them my name.

"Yes that really is my name. No I don't know what my parents were thinking when they named me. No I'm not a mind reader. Any other questions?" Ella stood there with her mouth open and an utterly surprised look on her face. That's what most people did when I did that. Of course most would have backed away slowly by now, come up with some lame excuse to leave, and then walk like they wished they could run. She just stood there gawking at me.

"Fine then I'll turn tail. See ya." I then turned and started walking toward the stage like I was on some kind of mission. And in a way I guess I was because wouldn't you want to know if you had someone that knew you better than anyone and actually cared if you were alive in the same room with you? I thought so.

Once I got to the stage I hopped up and walked up to the curtain. I pulled it back, walked two steps, and then ran right into something hard, dark, and unmoving. I started to fall back but something grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward. The thing that grabbed me over corrected me and then I was falling forward with my face buried into the hard, dark thing. When we hit the ground I winced and made a shot very soft high pitched squeak. It was weird for me to do that and I really hoped no one heard that. A little louder I said "Ow." but it was muffled by whatever my face was buried in.

I gathered my arms underneath me and pushed myself up so that I could actually see something other than black. I looked dead ahead and my eyes were meant with dark ones. Ones that I remembered from a time when I was littler and I was actually used to being happy. Me being me and having a word or two for everything said "Long time no see stranger. Where you been?" He sorted making me smile and said "You're one to talk." That made me grin like a fool and then something happened that I didn't think possible.

Fang grinned back.

Fang's smile was special because he rarely did but a grin must have been in a whole different category. We just lied there grinning at each other and probably would have stayed like that. Accept for the fact that someone had other plans.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LAYING DOWN ON MY BOYFRIEND!!!" shrieked someone in a very high voice that, I swear, could shatter glass.

I jumped off Fang like he had the plague, rolled, and stood up ready for a fight. Fang and I were on the same page, as always, and he was up a second after I was. Although he was standing in front of me and was facing me instead of preparing for a fight. He looked me in the eye and I could tell that he was saying '_Calm down. Don't attack_.'

It took me a few seconds but I managed to look semi normal or as normal as I ever look. I took a deep breath, trying and loosen my muscles. It didn't do much. I looked over at the place where the noise had come from and saw that there was a girl, about my age, looking at me with a whole lot of hate.

She was wearing a mini skirt that looked _way_ to mini and a shirt that barely covered her. She had red hair that matched her face at the moment. Even through all the makeup I could tell that she was red in the face with anger. '_Now what?_' I thought as she angrily stalked toward me. '_I don't think I remember her from anything. What had she screamed when she came in here?_' I thought for a moment, remembered, then looked over at Fang.

He took one look at my face and I knew instantly that he knew what I was thinking which was '_Why in God's name would you date HER?_' He blinked at me, turned to where the girl was standing and was about to say something when the girl pushed pasted him. She came within a few inches of my face. She was still shorter than me even though she was in 3 or 4 inch high heels. She looked me in the eye and I automatically put up my mental walls.

Then she basically yelled in my face "WELL, WHAT WERE YOU DOING!!!" I looked at her and I could help it. I laughed. I laughed like there was no tomorrow or like I had just heard the funniest joke in the world. The girl looked at me like I was insane which, by now, I probably was. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?" she asked in a shriek. I laughed for a little longer then said through the laughed "Yep. The person that has no idea what I've dealt with apparently." I got a hold of myself and stopped laughing but still had a smile on my face. She glared at me like there was no tomorrow, turned to Fang, and yelled "TELLS HER!!"

He looked over at me and said with a small smirk on his face "She would say that she is the person that can make or break your reputation and that you should be more careful how you speak to her. I say that she is probably someone that you shouldn't worry about because you've seen more, done more, and know more than she does or ever will. And by the way, she is not my girlfriend."

She turned to Fang with an appalled look on her face and said in a high pitched half shriek "What!" but before he could answer she had slapped him across the face and ran as fast as a girl in 3 or 4 inch high heels can. She went around the corner and out of sight. I looked over at Fang who had a hand to his face where she had slapped him.

He looked a little surprised but other than that he had the same expression that he always had on. It was one of a mask over his true feelings that rarely went down. But I could see through it most of the time. It was cool because, most of the time, he could see through mine too. He felt me staring and looked over at me. He seemed look me over as I had done to him. When he reached my eyes again we just stood there staring at each other.

I didn't know what else to do so I asked "So what's new with you?"


	5. AN SORRY!

Hey

So sorry about the authors note but I thought this would be a better place than at the end of a chapter. I'm gonna be out for a while so I might not get the chance to write and/or update. So, sorry if I don't update for a while.

Plus I need reviews people!!! I think I got maybe one for this last chapter! One!!! I don't like when people do this just as much as the next person but I would like at least five or six reviews for the story in general and from different people before I put up another one. Sorry put I really want (and need) input people.

So… REVIEW!!! PLEASE!!!!


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

**Max's POV**

He looked at me for a while as if trying to decipher the words of a foreign language. He still hadn't said anything when a line of people came in the way I did and the one in front said "Hey, Fang, what's wi- . Oh, hello?"

The guy that had just talked was the one that Ella had called Iggy when she was telling me who everyone on stage was. He didn't seem like he wanted to kill me, like the red head had, he just seemed surprised to see that there was another person here. The other people that had come in were all the people that were in the band that Ella had named for me plus Ella herself. They all looked like the first guy, surprised to see me.

'_Well_' I thought to myself '_they don't know you and they've never seen you before. They're bounded to be surprised._' I kept my face blank and looked at the people that had just walked in. Then Fang said "Hey guys." as if this were any other day. Did he still think of me as a friend? I had thought so but I wasn't sure of anything anymore.

I looked over at Fang and he meant my eyes. He seemed to look right in to my thoughts like he always did and he smiled. One of those rare smiles that I absolutely loved. Then he said something I really wasn't expecting to hear from anyone ever again.

He said "This is my friend, Maximum Ride. Former partner in crime and the only person that ever knew me well enough to tell what I was thinking."

Every single one of the people that were in that room, excepted for Fang, looked at me as if I were some mythical creature come to life. Fang looked at me as though he was relieved I was alright, had a million questions to ask me, and had a million things to tell me.

"Wait." said the girl that was called Nudge "you're the girl that Fang grew up with? Seriously? Omg, I can't believe we get to meet the actual person that did all those things and became friends with Fang and gave Fang the name Fang and-"Ella put a hand around her mouth. "Sometimes it takes more than a nudge." she said with a smile on her face. "I can't believe it. I seriously can not believe it. I thought that he had made the whole thing up but here you are and you're not saying anything otherwise." said the boy known as Iggy. Fang rolled his eyes at Iggy's comment and said "Sure Iggy. Whatever you say." Then Fang walked over to me and I couldn't stop myself from hugging him. I didn't crush him or anything but it was a hug plain and simple.

At first he went stiff like he always did when I hugged him, but then, when I was about to pull back, he wrapped his arms around me and I swear I couldn't breathe. Normally when I get hugged like this I panicked because I thought I was going to get suffocated or something but, with Fang, I didn't feel like that. I didn't feel the irresistible urge to fight my way out and run like hell. It was the first real huge I'd had in many, many years, too. So I went with it. I crushed him back but not as well as he crushed me. Although the crushing did nothing for the pain in my ribs I hung tough through because I didn't want to ruin the moment.

When we finally drew apart the others were looking at us like we were utter strangers to them and they couldn't fathom what the hell we were doing and why.

Iggy was the first to speak and he said "How… but you don't… what?" This seemed to wake Nudge up from where ever she was and then she went off saying "OMG!!! FANG JUST HUGGED YOU!!! I mean Fang has never, in the history of me living here, hugged anyone, like, his age! You must be someone special or something because I swear that I –" The boy named Gazzy wrapped his hand around her mouth this time and added his own comment to the matter by saying simply "Cool!" I looked over at Ella and she looked very confused, just like the rest of the people around me. Except for Fang who was looking at me like I shouldn't exist or something.

So with my trade mark word slinging I said "I can't look that bad. I know I've been through a bit of a rough patch but still." That made Gazzy laugh and I saw Nudge sorta smile from behind Gazzy's hand but Ella and Iggy still had looks of pure disbelief on their faces. "Is it really that weird for him to hug someone?" I asked them. They nodded their heads yes. "Good then he hasn't changed as much as I thought he would." I said with a smile on my face.

This was the most fun I'd had in weeks or maybe even months. "Yes because hanging out with you really is that scarring." I looked over at Fang who had a smug look on his face. Then I thought of something and I knew my face was twisting into an evil smile. He looked a little worried then I said "Oh yeah? Well if I remember correctly and if you haven't changed that much then…" I reached out as quick as lightning and poked him in his ribs. "Agh!" he said and jumped back a little. As if I really was lightning. That is, if lightning was actually a pressure point that didn't work right on him and actually tickled him instead of causing him pain. Other than that it was exactly the same.

I cackled and pointed at him until he got an evil smile on his face and asked me menacingly "So that's how you want to play it, huh?" I stopped laughing and put my hands up in front of me as if in surrender and said "Oh come, Fang, do look at me like that." It was really bad when he got that look on his face because that meant that he was about to tickle me and that was never a good thing. Especially now since my ribs and stomach hurt like hell.

He started to lunge at me to pressure point me like I had to him when Iggy came in between us and looked over at Fang and said "Who are you and what did you do with our emo, quiet, non-hugging, and non-smiling Fang?" We half smiled at Iggy and said at the same time "That's because I probably know her/him way to well for his/her own good." He looked between the two of us then said with a scared look on his "Ok. Now that was just plain creepy."

Then Ella walked up with Nudge and Gazzy and said "Well you may think it's creepy but I think it's great. I mean, come on Ig, Fang talks about her enough for us to know the some of the stories by heart and she hugged him knowing full well that he doesn't like being hugged. They have to be really good friends for those things to happen, right?" Iggy looked thoughtful for a moment while Fang and I looked at each other and in a heartbeat knew that we would be plotting our revenge on them for saying that.

"One question," said Iggy still looking thoughtful and interrupting our plotting "how do you two know each other so well yet you haven't seen each other in a few years?" I thought for a moment then said "Eight."

Everyone looked at me quizzically but Fang looked at me understanding. "Eight what?" asked Nudge. I took a deep breath and said "It wasn't just a few years, it was eight and I don't know how I know him so well after so long but it's always been this way." I looked up at Fang and we just looked at each other and it seemed like we could never have been closer. I looked back at Iggy and said "That's just the way it is." with a smirk on my face. He looked at us as if he didn't believe we could exist.

"So" I asked Fang "as I was saying before we were interrupted, what's new with you?" He half smiled at me and said "So, so much." I smiled back and said "Good because I didn't want to be the only one talking." He chuckled a little at that, and then looked like he just remembered something. "Hey guys" he said to his band "don't we have a gig to finish or something?" Everyone looked at Fang like he had said something that made no sense at all. I could help it. I had to laugh.

I was about to burst out laughing when someone else came through the curtain. I looked at the new comer and saw that it was a man in a cop's uniform. I looked at his face and immediately notice that he was the same cop from before that I had run from, John. He looked at me and I could tell he recognized me too. I prepared to run but when I tensed up I hurt my ribs and then I started coughing.

It was deep, racking, coughs that made my ribs and stomach turn into one, big, slab of pain. Eventually I doubled over it hurt so much. I felt hands on my shoulders as it started to die down a bit. I kept my eyes closed for a few seconds more, not wanting to start another attack. "Hey." came a gentle voice from in front of me. Slowly I opened my eyes and looked right into Fang's black ones. "You ok?" he asked me. I moved my hand from my mouth and looked at what was in it.

Blood.

I looked back to see Fang's worried eyes looking back at me. '_What happened?_' I read. I sorta half smiled but I think the blood made it look weird and said in a raspy whisper, no doubt caused by all the blood "You don't wanna know."

Then I passed out.

And did anyone _but me_ not see that coming?

* * *

Hey everyone srry for not updating for a while but like I said before I went somewhere and didn't get much time to write. But know I've updated so u can't hate me anymore. Ya! Anyway. Please review! Please don't make me do another one of those count the review things again!


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Fang's POV **

"You don't wanna know." said Max and then she collapsed on me. I caught her as she fell and just stared in disbelief at her limp in my arms. "Nick." said someone from behind me. I looked over to see my foster dad standing there looking from Max to me with a concerned look on his face. I didn't know why he was here, didn't know why he wasn't in a patrol car or in the station. All I knew was that Max was passed out in my arms with blood that she'd coughed up in her hands and that nothing good could come of that. "Call 911." I told my dad. He drew his eyebrows together and said "She can't be-"I cut him off with one look that anyone could read as determined as hell. "Call." I said with the kind of finality they had never heard from me before. "Wait." said Ella as he took out his cell. I turned my gaze on her she seemed to flinch back slightly as she said "The ambulance will take an hour to get here and I don't think she has an hour." I thought for a moment doing mental math way fast than should have possible and came to the same conclusion. "Police car?" I asked my dad. He thought for a moment then said with a sad note in his voice "The second one is about a half hour off and mine is with my partners headed for the station because-"but I didn't hear the rest. My mind was going a mile a minute and all I was focused on was saving Max. I'd lost her once and I wasn't losing her again. Not if I could help it. I picked her up careful not to move her too much and started to walk toward the side door. No one really noticed I had moved until I opened the door and they heard the screech of the hinges. There was silence for a few moments while I walked out the door then everyone started talking at once asking me what I was doing, where I was going, and everything in between. I didn't answer any of them because I was so focused on getting to Dr. Martinez's house. I figured that since she was a vet she would know about medical stuff like this because animals are a lot like humans. Then Ella was standing in front of me with her arms up on my shoulders. She looked me dead in the eye and asked "What are you doing, Fang?" I contemplated just shoving her out the way but decided to tell her in the end. "I won't lose her. Not again. Not like this." She seemed to understand that I had a plan and that I sorta knew what I was doing. She moved to the side so I could pass. I walked as quickly as I could to Dr. Martinez's house, not trusting myself to run and not hurt her more. When I got there she was at the door holding it open for us. I realized a little bit later that one of the others must have figured out my plan and had called ahead. "Put here on the couch in the living room." said Dr. Martinez as she ushered us all into her house. I did as I was told and put Max there. Dr. M came and looked her over muttering slightly to herself. When she was done she looked up at me and I could see that she was very troubled. "How did she get so hurt, Fang?" she asked me, like I would know. I shook my head in complete confusion and let my mind race through scenario after scenario. I didn't know what to do, I didn't think I could help, and that fact was killing me. "Fang" said Dr. M like she had said it several times. I looked up and into her, now, solemn eyes and she told me "You may want to look away for this." I looked down and saw the scalpel in her hand. I nodded and placed myself so I would be able to see anything. It's not that I'm squeamish or anything it's just that I didn't think I could keep from plowing into anyone if they were cutting someone up much less one of my friends. After a while of sitting there torturing myself over Max getting hurt and me not being there to have her back Dr. M touched my arm. I turned and she said "Come on and help me get her in the car." She saw the questioning look on my face and said "I did what I could but she needs a doctor, a human doctor not a vet." I nodded and picked her up. I notice the medicine bag that was taped to her side. After a bit I figured out that the red stuff in it wasn't meds but her own blood. I didn't have time to think to hard about that because the next thing I knew I was in the back of Dr. M's car trying to keep Max from moving too much and trying to keep myself in my seat. It didn't take long to get to the hospital the way Dr. M was diving but I was having a hard time staying in one place much less making sure Max stayed. When we got to the parking lot she parked as close as possible then said "Bring her through the ER we'll catch up in a minute." I nodded got out the car and headed for were the ER entrance was. When I got there a nurse saw me and asked "Is she ok?" I didn't trust my voice so I shook my no and she called over some other people to help her. A male nurse came over and held his arms out as if to take Max from me. I just stared at his hands. One of the other people touched my arm. I turned to see a nurse that was a little taller than me and she said in a very gentle voice "We can't help her unless you let us take her." I stared at her for a few more seconds then gave the male nurse Max's limp form. He was about to take her away when I grabbed his shoulder. He turned back and looked at me. "Take care of her." I told him as I looked him dead in the eye. He nodded solemnly and I believed him. I let go of his shoulder and watched as they walked away, through some double doors, and then they were gone. I stared at the doors until the same nurse I had talked to before asked me "How do you know her? Is she your girlfriend or something?" I looked at her like she was insane or high or something. "She's my best friend." I said like she should know this already. She nodded and asked "How'd she get hurt? Did you put the bandages on her or was that someone else?" I didn't really enjoy being question like this and was about to tell her to go help with my friend and to quick asking me stupid questions when my dad and Dr. M came through the doors and into the ER. They saw me right away and practically ran to where I was standing. "What's happened? Is she ok?" asked Dr. M as she came and joined the nurse and me. "Hello, you must be related to one of the children, right?" she asked trying to find someone that would make some actual sense instead of me. Dr. M looked at her then said "I'm not related to either of these kids. I'm one of his friend's mothers. This is his father." she said gesturing to my dad that was beside her. He looked confused and out of his element here in the hospital. He didn't seem too focused either, like he was trying to put together a puzzle that was missing a few pieces that he didn't even know existed. "Well then I need to speak to one of the girl's relatives or parents or someone that at least knows her name." I looked at the nurse and she looked at me. "She doesn't have any relatives, her parents are dead, and I'm the only one here who knows her name." She looked at me confused because I had said so much. She didn't know me that well but already she had caught on that I didn't say much. Or maybe she didn't think I was all that good under presser. I didn't care. As long as I knew that Max was alright. I kept my face blank as I looked straight into her eyes. She didn't seem to be able to comprehend that I was breaking down and crying or something. "Then was her name?" the nurse asked after a long while of staring. "Her name" I said as I turned back toward the doors she had been carried through, as if nothing could move ne from that spot "is Maximum, Maximum Ride."

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	8. My bad :D

Hey

Srry the lates ch. doesn't have paragraphs but tech. hates me.

Literally.

It, somehow, put it all back to the way it was before I went and edited everything.

And idk how to fix that.

Bummer

Anyway srry about that and I don't promise that it wont happen again so…yeah :D

Please review!!

Even though I am an idiot :D


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Max's POV**

While I was knocked out I had nightmares. Well, they were more like memories but in my life that's nightmare enough.

It started with my parents. I watched them die again and again while I could do nothing to stop it. I screamed and shouted but nothing worked.

Then I went through some of the foster homes I'd been in. The very bad ones though. None of the semi good ones. This was supposed to be a nightmare, right? Well I fought until I didn't think I could fight anymore. I was tired in a dream. Weird, I know, but it happened to me sometimes and it was really annoying when it did. After I was done fighting all the bad guys in that part I came to an ally. I looked around and immediately recognized it. '_No! Not this! Anything but this!_' I screamed inside my head. I knew that if I went through this part of the nightmare I would break down crying when I woke up and I didn't know where I was waking up and I didn't plan on crying in front of a bunch of people. I would not show weakness.

I concentrated on the dream, trying to change it or redirect it. I saw the silhouette of someone on the other end of the ally and tried like hell to get out of the dream. Finally, things started to blur and change their shape and become something else and become somewhere else. I was so relieved that, at first, I didn't recognize where I was. Only that it was away from that place. Then I saw where my mind had put me and I swear I nearly cried.

I was back in the room where I had been chained to the floor and beaten within inches of my life every other day. I was back to where my keeper had put me with the rags as blankets and with no food and little water. I pulled at the chain willed it to break or disappear or something that would help me escape this place of torture. Then the door opened I looked at it, hoping against hope that it would be someone that would help me. The door opened fully and then, standing there with a metal bat in his hand, was my keeper.

The odd thing is that he had a bat. He never beat me with one so I'm not sure why he had one now. I guess it was just my twisted imagination adlibbing. Figures.

Anyway he raised the bat and I tied to move but found that I couldn't. I was stuck where I was and I didn't have the concentration to change it or move or anything but watch. The bat came down on my ribs and I collapsed to the floor in pain. It wasn't the normal kind of pain though. It was this kind of phantom pain that hurt ten times worse than the normal kind. This sucked for me. He kept hitting me in random places but it always hurt.

I continued to try to change the dream but it continued not working. "Had enough, girly?" asked my keeper. He had the same sneer on his face as the first time he said that. I looked up and glared at him. I wish I could do the same as I had done back at the place where he had kept me. Instead I looked at him and said "Never." He glared down at me as he raised his metal bat above his head. He was swinging it down hard, hard enough to bash my head in, when I woke up.

I sat up gasping for air with about five gallons of adrenaline being pumped into my system. I looked around wildly; trying to figure out what was a dream, what was real, and where I was all at the same time. '_Calm down_' I told myself '_think of one thing at a time_'. I figured that I should know where I was then I could patch up my screwed up head later.

I looked around and found a lot of white. White walls, white curtains, white floors, white everything. Then I noticed something. I was sitting down on something soft and there was stuff stuck to me. I looked down and saw that I was in a bed that was, can you guess, white. I heard beeping and saw wires and tubes. That's when I realized I was in a hospital room.

'_Now how the hell did I get here_' I thought to myself as I stared at the machines and medicine bags I was hooked up to. I sighed to myself and started to turn off the machines. Once they were off I took the wires off and wrapped them around the monitor. After that I turned the IV drips off and took the needle out of my hand. I did a systems check to make sure I was good. I had bandages wrapped around my middle and a few on various scrapes and cuts I had. I took a deep breath and winced as I figured out that someone had cut me open and stitched me up while I was out. I seemed to be mostly ok so I slipped out of the bed. My legs held me even if they were a little wobbly. I looked around and saw that there was a window in my room. I went over to it and moved the curtain to the side.

Outside it was raining so hard I could barely see anything. I looked around the room again and saw that it was about midnight according to the digital clock on the wall. '_No wonder it was so dark outside_' I thought as I made my way over to the door. I was still in the same tank top and jeans as before so I didn't look that conspicuous. Of course the top was covered in blood and the jeans looked as if they'd see better days but still. At least I wasn't in a hospital gown.

I opened the door and looked around. It opened up to a hall and no one was down either end so I went down the end that had an opening because the other had a wall. I walked to the end and made a right. The hall went to a bigger opening that had a circular desk in the middle. It was probably the nurses' station. There was only one nurse and she looked knee deep in a pile of papers so I just went up to the desk. She didn't notice me just as predicted so I got to look around a little more.

Surrounding about two thirds of the desk where five, evenly spaced, halls including the one I had just come down. The rest of the space around it was a sitting area that was enclosed. It had a window running through the middle of the wall but the blinds were drawn over them so I couldn't see in. I went over to the door that went into the waiting area. I had my hand on the door handle when I had a thought.

Who was I expecting to see there? I mean I didn't have any family, the people here probably didn't know my name so they weren't going to know who to contact. What was I thinking? Also, if I knew no one was going to be there for me why did I have an overwhelming urge to see who was on the other side of this door in this waiting area?

'_Well_' I thought '_instinct has brought you this far, let's see where it brings you._' After a moment of hesitation I turned the door handle and opened the door as silently as I had walked down the hall. I slipped into the room, closed the door behind me, and then took a look around the room.

It was dimmer in here and had rows of chairs that went back to back of each other. I reminded me a little of an airport, I wasn't sure why though. Probably my screwed my mind toying with me again. Anyway the walls were white and the chairs were, shockingly, black. No one was in there except for a group of people who appeared to be sleeping on the floor and in the chairs.

There was a girl on the floor at the foot of the chair furthest from the door. She was asleep against the wall with two little ones' heads, a boy's and a girl's, on her lap. The chair by the wall was empty but the one right next to it had a boy about my age who had a girl leaning against him that was maybe a little younger than he was. Across from the kids in the group were three adults, two women and one man, who were all asleep too. I didn't know why but I got the feeling that I knew all the people here but the little girl that was on the floor and one of the women sitting across from the kids.

I was just staring at the group when I heard the door behind me. I hadn't realized I had but I had moved a little away from the door to get a better look at the people sleeping. Now there was someone behind me and I could feel their eyes staring holes into the back of my head. My first thought was that a nurse was behind me and now they were going to see all the blood, yell at me for being out of bed, make me go back to that room and be forced to heal.

So I took a deep breath and prepared to get yelled at as I turned around. Who I saw utterly surprised me though. It was a boy about my age and a few inches taller than me. He was dressed in black and had shaggy black hair to go with the weird look that, I think, he was going for. The thing that really shocked me, though, was his eyes. They were so dark that they were nearly black and I wasn't too sure were the iris ended and the pupil began. That wasn't what got to me though.

The thing that got me was that I recognized his _eyes_. Of all things to remember about this guy I remembered his eyes. This was a typical me thing to do so I tried to look at him a little harder. I looked at his eyes and I could tell that he knew me. Well. Scary well. Then it all clicked.

Everything I had gone through, all the new people I had met, all the people I had hurt in the past 24 hours. The one person that I had found. I couldn't talk, couldn't think, and was rooted to the spot for the second time by Fang's gaze. It was slightly annoying but at least it was better than being in pain. A whole heck of a lot better.

After a while of staring I smiled at him and said "Isn't it funny how we keep meeting up like this?" That surprised him into a half smile and he said in reply "Yeah, I guess it is." We stood there for a moment more then he asked me "Did you know?" I cocked my head to the side and he pointed to my ribs. I looked down, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand and said "Well, sorta. They hurt but my adrenaline must have numbed it when I was outside and when I came in I was focused on figuring you out so… yeah." I looked back up at his face and he said "We really need to talk, don't we?"

I shrugged and said in reply "That depends. When am I getting out of here?" he smiled fully and the room seemed a little brighter. "I'm not sure but I don't think these people have the courage to take on the task of forcing you to rest." I punched him in the arm but I was smiling and the punch was half hearted at best. "Yeah, well, a recovering Fang isn't a picnic either, dude." We both started to laugh at the jokes we had made although they weren't nearly that funny compared to how much we laughed.

Although we had started this conversation trying to be quiet, it ended in loud laughter from me and loud chuckling from Fang. So the glaringly obvious affect of all this racket was that everybody woke up. The first to move was the two little ones.

They lifted their heads and grinned when they saw us. "Everyone, wake up!" shouted the little girl who had blond curly hair and blue eyes. She looked really cute and innocent. Anyway all the kids were awake in an instant where as it took the adults a little longer to get moving. "What is it sweetheart?" asked the girl I remember to be Ella. The little girl pointed over at us and everyone looked. "Run." whispered Fang jokingly into my ear form behind me. I half smiled at that and I could hear in his voice that he was doing the same. Then came the questions. The whole crowd came over and started asking question after question until all their voices sort of melted in to one and I couldn't understand anything.

After a while they realized I wasn't saying anything and that's when the hugs came. It started with Angel then the rest of the girls. I couldn't move all that much and I didn't really know what to do. The last time I had been hugged by anyone but Fang I had thrown them into the lockers so hard that they got whiplash and a concussion.

That really hadn't gone so well.

But these were people I didn't want to hurt or anything like that. Weird but true. Eventually I got up the nerve to talk and said "Umm… did you guys want me to tell you something or can I just leave the hospital?" They all let go and all started talking at once.

Again.

You would think these people would learn but apparently not. I took a slightly deep breath so as not to hurt my ribs and said "Ok, I'm sorry but I can't understand everyone when you all talk at the same time. Can we, like, come up with some sort of order or maybe a list of one kind or another?" Nudge raised her hand and I looked over at her and said "Umm…Nudge? You have something to say?" She nodded her head 'yes'. "Well… umm… go ahead?"

She grinned at me and said "Thanks Max! I just want to ask you a question. You may think I'm, like, rude or something but please don't get mad at me. I ask a lot of people this and I really like to hear about these things and it's just that I …uh…wanted to know, like, how you became a foster kid."

I looked at her because I hadn't heard that many words come out of someone's mouth that fast _ever_. I wasn't even sure that I had gotten every word as it flew out of her mouth. She looked at the look on my face and apparently didn't know why I was making this face and immediately thought that I had been offended or something.

"You really don't _have_ to tell me if you don't want to! I just ask all the foster kids I meet what their story is and I kinda collect them. I don't, like write them down or anything. No, that would just be weird. Well maybe it wouldn't but it just seems a little weird to me and-"

I finally had the sense to wrap my hand around her mouth before my head exploded from the word overload it was having. I looked over her head at Fang. We met eyes and I asked him "Does she always talk this much or did I catch her on one of her wordy days?" He half smiled at me and said "No, believe it or not, she _is_ taking it easy on you."

I raised my eyebrows at him and said without words '_You have __**got**__ to be kidding me_.' He shook his head 'no' and I looked back down at Nudge. Before I could manage to think before I talked I said "You've got one heck of a mouth on you."

Then I realized what I had said and that she might find this offensive but before I could apologize I felt her grin from under my hand and heard a muffled 'Thank you' from behind my hand. I smiled back and chuckled to myself. People thought I was weird when I said 'thanks' when they said I was weird. Now I kinda knew what it felt like and I loved the new perspective.

I removed my hand and looked at the rest of the people who, apparently, wanted to talk to little old me. The guy in the cop uniform, which I remembered from my keeper's house and from the coffee place right before I passed out, seemed to want to say something to me. "So" I said to him "you just keep turning up, don't you?" He smiled a tired smile and said in reply "I still need to get you back to your parents. It's my job."

I raised an eyebrow at him and said "If you haven't heard, I'm kinda parentless so that's gonna be kinda hard to do." "Well" he told me "I'll return you to your foster parents then." I shook my head in sadness then looked back up at him. "Can't I stay a bit longer? It's not every day I get the opportunity to catch up with an old friend." I said, hooking a thumb towards Fang.

"Well" he told me "since I can't take you anywhere until you're healed then sure. As long as you don't mind talking in a hospital while resting that should work out great."

I sighed then said to Fang "Remember when I fell out that tree and broke my arm?" He thought for a moment then nodded his head. "Well" I said with a grin on my face "I haven't gotten much better to be around when being forced to heal."

He smiled back and said "Remember my broken leg?" I nodded. How could I forget? He had been in bed for a while and we had harassed the nurses so much that they 'let him out early.' It was really funny the way he dealt with the nurses and some of his tricks we had made up when I was in the hospital. "Well" he said with the same smile on his face "I haven't gotten much better either."

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Ok guys u know what to do…

REVIEW!!!

I got 4 people to review last time let's see if I can do better

Also thanks 'babiixilyx3' for all the review

Oh and srry if I spelt your name wrong :D


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter: 8**

**Max's POV**

I stayed there for about 3 days when really I should have stayed about two weeks. It was really fun to annoy and confuse the doctors though.

The first day they came whenever I no one was in the room thinking I would pay more attention to them and respond more. I didn't. Actually, I did the exact opposite because I knew what his logic was and to mess with him I simply ignored him. He asked me a few questions about my pain levels, I didn't say anything. Then he started asking me about my life, I gave him a death glare. He shut up really quick.

The second day he tried to come when Fang had come to visit me. I found this really annoying and decided to mess with his head a little. With one look from me Fang knew what I was going to do and shook his head a little with a smirk on his face. It was pretty funny. Anyway when the doctor asked me a question I would ask him one. Often it didn't have anything to do with what he was talking about but I was bored and had a lot of time to come up with random thoughts just like the ones I asked him. He eventually gave up and left for the day.

The third day he came in and stood at the foot of the hospital bed while I sat and stared at him. "Are you ever going to talk to me without mocking me?" I looked out as if I was thinking, looked back at him and said "I might if you let me out of here."

"You know I can't do that Maximum." I smiled an evil smile at him and his eyes actually widened in what I think was fear and I said "Well, then I'll just have to come up with something a lot worse than I've already done." After that he checked my charts hurriedly and left.

I told Fang that story when he came over and we laughed for a while about it. Well I laughed he chuckled. I still thought it was hilarious. Then again I love to mess with people.

Anyway.

After that Fang's foster father brought me to the police station and I answered most of his questions. I didn't answer any questions about my past though. He didn't like that to much but I wasn't budging and he didn't push. He was actually not that bad a guy when he wasn't trying to get info out of me.

This leads me to my next announcement. I'm currently headed over to Fang's house with Mr. Owens, Fang's foster father, and I'm, apparently, staying with them until someone from the foster care service people come and pick me up. Since it's late they probably won't come till the morning so we're having a sleepover.

Fang, Fang's friends, and I were going to be camped out in the living room of Mr. and Mrs. Owens home and they didn't seem to mind at all. At least Mr. Owens didn't, I didn't know about Mrs. Owens yet.

So know I was in a car with Fang's foster father and he seemed to want to talk to me but didn't really know what to talk about. I decided I might be able to help. "So, you do this often?" I asked. He laughed and I smiled because I was happy I could still interact with normal people without making them want to run for their lives in the opposite direction of me. "No, I can't say I do." he said through his laughter. "Do you mind if I ask how you and Nick became friends?" I was confused for a moment and asked "Who?"

He shook his head then said "Sorry, you know him as Fang." I did a face-palm then said "I'm sorry. I'm just so used to calling him Fang that I just completely forgot what his real name was. God, I'm such a jerk! What kind of person forgets their own best friend's name?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and immediately tensed up. He moved his hand away and said "Sorry but I just wanted to tell you it's ok. If I remember correctly you're the one that gave him the nickname of 'Fang', am I right?"

I smiled over at him and asked "How many stories has he told you about me? Two? Three?" he shook his head and replied "No, he's told a lot more than that. The most he talks is when he tells us stories of you two when you were little. It's interesting. You two have been apart for so long and yet you still know each other so well." He looked over at me as if I held the answer to a mystery he had been trying to solve for a long time.

After a moment he looked back at the road and we lapsed into silence. It wasn't uncomfortable like the last time though. It was more like an understanding silence although I'm not that sure why.

After a few more minutes we got to the Owens house and all I could say is that it was big. At least compared to what I had seen in the last few years. It was a two story, brick house with windows almost everywhere. They really seemed to like windows here. There was a front porch with a wooden bench swing and a few chairs. The door was also wooden with a very cool design to it. There was a white picket fence and a lot of bushes, flowers, and trees. I had a feeling that the back yard had the same green theme going for it as well.

I was looking up at the sky and the trees when I heard a noise where the front door was. I looked over to find Nudge, Ella, and Angle running over to me with Iggy and Gazzy trailing behind. I didn't know where Fang was at the moment but I had enough to worry about with the three girls coming at me to give me a hug.

This wasn't good for two reasons. One being I tended to freak when anyone touched me except for Fang for some unknown reason. The second was that I had just had surgery on my ribs which was exactly where they would be squishing me from. Although Angel would probably attack my legs.

The girls shook me out of my thoughts as they all got within 2 feet of crushing me. "Wait!" I half yelled. They weren't expecting this and stopped with their arms wide and their faces set in confusion. I had my hands up so that I could fend them off if necessary. "I'm sorry I just don't think being hugged would be that good for me right now. You know with all the rib issues that I've had in the past few days."

They looked at each other, back at me, and then Nudge said "Uh…our bad?" I smiled back at her and said "No harm no foul." She smiled back, took my hand, and said "Come on in! We have a lot planned! I hope you like Guitar Hero! Do you?" I shrugged and said "Never played." Nudge turned and I could tell she was going to go off on one of her rants but before she could even get out a word a voice from the door said "Well then let's get you set up on mic and see what you can do."

I looked up at the person in the door and saw that it was Fang. I grinned over at him and said "Sure, but I think I have a horrible voice so if, like, the mic shorts out or something, it's on your head."

He grinned back at me an unholy grin and said "How about a little contest, Max? You against me in a singing contest to see who sings better. And I know you can sing so don't even try that on me." I grinned back and said "Ok, if it's a fight you want" I walked up to Fang until I was right in front of him and finished saying "then it's a fight you'll get."

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Hey guys

Next chapter will have a song

No I'm not tell you which song

Yes I am evil

Yes this is a complement to me:D

Anyway…. REVIEW PLEASE!!!! :))


	11. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Max's POV**

Everyone was really excited to have the sing off but the adults said that we had to have it after dinner. So we all went into the kitchen to help fix the food.

Everyone seemed to know what to do and who to ask and that just left me utterly lost. Truth be told I was never any good in the kitchen. I had tried to warm so water on the stove because the people I was with didn't have a working microwave. Let's just say it didn't end well.

So I was just standing there when Nudge came up to me and asked "Can cook the noodles for the spaghetti?" I gave her a confused look then asked "How?"

She looked at me as if I had just spoken in a different language. "You don't know how to cook noodles? Haven't you ever helped in the kitchen when they cook noodles?" she asked me as if it was weird to not know how to cook noodles. "Umm…" I said in reply "I don't really cook and no one has ever really cooked for me since I came out of the orphanage so…I'm a bit lost in a kitchen." I smiled a little and half heartedly chuckled a bit too.

The minute I was done with my sentence though she was looking at me with her mouth wide, eyebrows raised, and eyes much bigger than normal. After a while of just staring at each other I asked her "Uh… are you ok?" she blinked a couple of times and shut her mouth but was still giving me this weird look. She then walked over to Iggy with me in tow and said "Teach her."

He looked up from what he was doing and asked her "Teach who, what, and why?" Nudge looked at him seriously and said "Her, anything, because she knows nothing."

She then turned and walked away leaving me with a confused Iggy who was holding a spoon that had holes in it. "And this" I said pointing to the weird spoon (I mean really who puts holes in a spoon) "is why I don't cook." I then walked away leaving Iggy as confused as ever.

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After everything was done cooking and everything was on the table we all went and to eat. It was weird for me because I hadn't actually sat at a table to eat with people for a very long time.

I sat next to Fang and he leaned down and whispered in my ear "Why are you so tense?" I smiled a little at this for two reasons.

One was that it was just like old times. He could still read me like an open book and vice versa. It gave me a rush every time I remember I was with people who cared if I was alive or dead. It was an even bigger rush when I remembered that I wasn't alone any more. That I had Fang and that he had my back no matter what.

The seconded being that I hadn't even known I was tense until he pointed it out. I knew why I was automatically on the alert though. It was because so much had happened to me that it was nearly impossible for me to relax. My mind had taken over and had put me, unconsciously, on guard and, apparently, Fang had noticed.

I looked over at him with a million stories in my head to tell him and said "I have so much to tell you." He looked back at me with a million questions in his eyes to match my million stories. We sat there staring at each other with our questions. He had just opened his mouth to, no doubt, ask me something when Mr. Owens, or John, stood up at the end of the table and said "Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

Everyone was sitting around the table by now and talking to one another so everyone looked up to see what he had to say.

He looked over everyone then said "I just wanted to say" he began "that it's an honor to have one of Fang's old friends here for dinner tonight." He looked at me and so did everyone else. All eyes were on me and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I knew they wanted me to say something so, considering I thought these people were nice, I decided I would.

I stood up and looked at all the people sitting at the table. They all seemed to care about me and that was utterly new and slightly weird. All these people were here because they wanted to be, not because they were forced, and the reason they were here was me and that just blew my mind.

"Well" good start "I just wanted to thank you for giving me such a warm welcome and letting me stay in your house and all." I said towards the adults. Then I turned my attention to Fang's friends and foster siblings. "I thank you guys for keeping tabs on this guy" I said pointing to Fang "while I wasn't around." Now I turned to Fang who looked me straight in the eye as I said "And I want to thank you for not forgetting about me because I don't think I ever forgot about you."

He smiled up at me making my breath hitch and said in reply "Well it wasn't too hard to remember you. You're pretty unforgettable." I grinned at this and said "Thanks." Everyone was smiling at me. I didn't have anything more to say so I just sat down.

"Ok everyone! Dig in!" said Mrs. Owns. We all fell on the food like we hadn't eaten in days. Eventually people started talking then people were full and just stopped eating and just sat and talked. I didn't talk much but I watched everyone trying to figure out how to act normal again.

Someone nudged me in my side so I looked over to fine Fang looking down at me with a question in his eyes. He wanted to know if I would talk to him. I nodded a 'yes' and left the table unnoticed by everyone but Fang. After a moment or two I heard his footsteps behind me. Once we were out of range of the people at the table I asked him "Where can we talk without being interrupted or listened to?" He smirked at me then started walking through the house. I didn't know what else to do so I followed.

He took me up the stairs and down the hall to last door. He opened it and as I walked in I immediately knew that this was his room. The walls and carpet were a dark blue while the desk, chair for desk, laptop, lamp, nightstand, curtains, bed frame, and bed sheets were black. Yep, this was Fang's room.

The curtains were drawn back so I could see a window seat. Fang went over to the window and opened it. He motioned me over and asked "Roof?" I knew what he meant and it was '_Do you want to talk on the roof_?' I nodded and we went through the window on to the roof of his house. We walked quietly to the highest point then sat down and watched the stars.

I usually did this every other night or so but with the being chained to a floor and all I hadn't been out at night in a while. After a while of just looking up at the stars and enjoying each other's company Fang looked over at me and asked "So…what have you been up to the past eight years?" I smiled at that and said "A lot. You?" He smiled back at me and said "A lot."

I shook my head a little at this and said "Well you obviously want to tell me all that's happened to you so go ahead. Tell me your story." He smiled at me in amusement then to my surprise said "Ok, I'll start but you will tell me every detail of your past eight years when I'm done with mine." I nodded then said "Sure, go head, tell me your story." He looked back up at the stars and after a moment started telling me about the past eight years of his life.

"When I left the orphanage that day I went to some home that didn't really want me but the check from the government that I came with. I never talked to them and they never really talked to me. The school I went to there had a bunch of people who all thought they were better than me and tried to intimidate me but it didn't work. In the end I beat them up and got in trouble. Eventually the family that was 'taking care of me' got fed up with all the phone calls from the school and gave me back to the state. I bounced around for a while. About two years actually.

Then I came here. It was summer time so I had time to adjust to everyone before I had to go to school. I hadn't talked to anyone since the last day at the orphanage, when I had lasted talked to you. Iggy, Ella, and Nudge talked to me but I say anything to them. I just listened to them.

One day Iggy asked me if I had ever talked in my life and I had nodded yes to him. It wasn't that I didn't like them or anything in fact I liked the family very much and still do but I had gone two years without talking and they were so used to just asking me yes or no questions that I simply didn't. Anyway after I nodded yes he asked when the last time I had talked was. I held up two fingers and he went through hours, days, weeks, and months before he finally got to years. He was amazed by this and asked me who the last person I had talked to was. To our surprise I actually talked. I told him you were the last person I had talked to.

He wanted to know everything about you but I didn't tell him much. Eventually I started talking to most people and I eventually told Iggy, Ella, and Nudge about you. When Gazzy and Angle were old enough I told them the stories to. What they told you at the coffee shop was true, too. I have told some of them so many times know that they actually know them by heart more or less.

One time there was this new kid and he tried to become friends with me but I really didn't like the guy. After about a week of the kid following me Iggy told him that the only times I talked was when it was crazy important or when it was about a friend, mainly one. Later that day I asked him if that was true. When he told me it was I asked him which of our friends I talked about most. He looked at me and said very seriously 'Max'.

Well not to long after that Nudge thought it would be a good idea to for a band. A little after that they roped me into becoming part of the band. After a while of play at the coffee shop we realized we need a female lead and the only person in the town who could sing all that well was Bridget. We didn't like it but we let her in the band and it actually helped but not as much as we would've liked. We're still looking for a female singer but there's only so much we can do because she's really popular so, obviously, a lot of people want to be her friend. So they give her dirt on other people and if she knew we were looking for her replacement she would just make it very, very difficult. Other than that minor problem things have been going good. Although," he said looking over at me for the first time in his whole monolog "I don't think you can say the same."

I half smiled but it held no humor in it. "I've had a rough patch but I'm glad that everything is good with you. There were times I did think anyone would care if I died or something but then I'd think 'Nah, if I died, Fang would bring me back just to kill me again for being so stupid as to die in the first place.'"

He grinned at this and said "So. Now it's your turn to tell me your story." I smiled at this and opened my mouth to tell him when, through the open window we heard someone yelling. They yelled "Max! Fang! Get down here so we can have the sing off!" We had been looking at the window while Nudge had been yelling. Now we looked at each other and said at the same time "You're going down."

We grinned at each other then got off the roof, went down the stairs and into the living room where they had everything set up. "So, can you sing?" asked Fang from beside me. I half smiled at him and said in reply "Well I guess we're both just gonna figure that out now, aren't we?"

******************************************************************

Sorry guys but it's the next ch. that has the song

My bad

Anyway if start updating less frequently it because my life is getting hectic and everything is going on at the same time

Plus all the usual which is a good bit of things in the first place

So…PLEASE REVIEW!!!! :D


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Max's POV**

I went over to the couch and took a seat everyone was scattered around the room with various electronics near them. Iggy had the drums, Gazzy had a guitar, Nudge was waiting for the other guitar, Fang was sitting next to me with a mic, and Ella was sitting next to me with Nudge's guitar getting everything set up.

After a bit of button pressing she asked "Ok. Now, who's singing?" Everyone looked at Fang and me. I looked over at Fang who was already looking at me and asked "You wanna go first?" He half smiled, shook his head no, and then said "You've heard me sing. Let's hear you." I glared at him which just made him smile more. He tilted the mic over to me and said "Here."

I rolled my eyes at him but took the mic and asked no one in particular "So what am I sing?" Everyone smiled and Ella replied saying "What song do you want? Iggy rigged the game to where you play or sing almost any song. It's really cool." I thought for a moment then asked "Do you guys have 'Where the Lines Overlap' by Paramore?"

"You listen to them?" asked Fang in a surprised voice from beside me. I looked over at him and asked in an equally surprised voice "You know who they are?"

"Yes." said everyone at the same time. "He likes the group and got the rest of hooked when he started continuously muttering their songs. We wanted to know what he was muttering because all he would say was 'A song by Paramore.' and nothing else." said Iggy where he sat on his stool in front of the drum set. I looked back at Fang and he shrugged saying "I like their music." I smiled and said "Good 'cause I don't know that many songs and most of the ones I do are by Paramore."

Everyone grinned like I was the best thing to happen to them in a very long time. I gave them wary looks then ask "What?" Fang shook his head and said simply "You listen to really music." I grinned back and said in 'duh' tone "Well yeah, what am I gonna listen to? Rap?" We all laughed for a while at my joke then Ella said through the laughter "So, you wanted 'Where the Lines Overlap', right?" I nodded yes so she press a few more buttons then looked over at me and asked "You ready to sing?" I smiled at her and said in reply "As I'll ever be."

She pressed one more button and the music started.

_Give me attention  
I need it now  
Too much distance  
To measure it out  
Out loud_

I looked over at Fang. We had spent so much time apart. Now all I wanted to do was talk and hang out with him. Just like the song said. I smiled and looked back at the screen before I messed everyone up.

_Tracing patterns across a personal map  
And making pictures where the lines overlap  
Where the lines overlap_

No one is as lucky as us  
We're not at the end but oh we already won  
No one is as lucky as us  
Is as lucky as us

These lines were also true. I couldn't think of anyone that was as luck as us right now. I mean, the only reason I was in the coffee shop in the first place was because I was running away from…well a lot of things.__

Call me over  
Tell me how you got so far  
Never making a single sound  
I'm not used to it but I can learn  
Nothing to it  
I've never been happier  
I've never been happier

This was true too. I didn't get how he got into this really great home without talking. That's what I always thought kept me out of good places. They wanted someone normal and I simply wasn't it. But, as it said in the song, I really never have been happier.__

No one is as lucky as us  
We're not at the end but oh we already won  
No one is as lucky as us  
Is as lucky as us

Now I've got a feeling  
If I sang this loud enough  
You would sing it back to me  
I've got a feeling  
If I sang this loud enough  
You would sing it back to me  
I've got a feeling  
(I've got a feeling)

Everyone echoed the last line I had sung and it seemed I wasn't the only one that was really into the song.

_You would sing it back to me  
You would sing it back to me_

No one is as lucky as us  
We're not at the end but oh we already won  
No one is as lucky as us  
Is as lucky as us  
Is as lucky as us

The music went on after I was done with my part and it looked like everyone was really into the song. I looked over at Fang and I swear his eyes were glowing with happiness. I was probably the only one who saw this but, in a way, that made it better.

The song ended with a few lone notes on an electric guitar and when it was really over everyone looked at me with so much happiness that I didn't know what to say. I couldn't say anything.

At that moment I had a family, an actual family that care about what happened to me and wanted me around. People that wouldn't hurt me because I wasn't their kid or I wasn't a cool kid. They wanted me for me and that was something I wasn't used to but really wanted to be.

Fang was the first to speak (for once) and said "Where'd you learn to sing like that?" I shrugged and looked down at me feet. "I never learned I just sung with the radio and stuff." Everyone's eyes widened except for Fang's. "Typical Max." he said in a mater-of-fact tone.

I looked at him questioningly and he said in reply to it "You can do things everyone thinks is great but you always seem to have no clue about your own talent until someone pointed it out." I half smiled, shook my head, and said "I can't have been that good. I never even took lessons before."

Iggy looked at me as if I was an idiot and said "Ever heard of 'a natural' before because if you haven't then you're the perfect example." I looked over at him then at everyone else. As I looked at them they nodded their heads in agreement of what Iggy had said. "I play acoustic guitar better than I sing. Trust me on this."

All the eyes in the room widened. Again.

"YOU PLAY GUITAR AND YOU CAN SING?" screech Nudge from where she was sitting right next to Ella. She looked over at Nudge and said "Really, Nudge, right in my ear?" Nudge smiled sheepishly at her then said in an apologetic tone "Sorry. She just knows so much music stuff and doesn't even know that we really need a better girl in the band. It just got me really excited. Sorry."

I looked over at Fang and asked "You need a girl in the band?" He shrugged in reply and said "Well, we already have Bridget bu-" Fang was then interrupted by everyone in the room, at the same time, all going off about how they all really hated this Bridget girl.

After a while of just listening to everyone I figured out that they all thought she was a horrible singer; had a bad tasted in music, clothes, and friends; and, last but not least, was the most popular girl in school that could make everyone in the school hate their band if they kicked her out.

Once everyone had calmed down a bit I said to everyone in general "So I take it you want her out the band." "Yes" said Fang in reply "we just need a new female lead singer who is better, won't mind being banded by Bridget, and has a voice that everyone will love enough to go against what she says." I nodded as I took all this in. When he was done talking I looked him in the eye and said only half joking "Well, you're in one hell of a problem."

He, then grinned at me one of those rare Fang grins that I had missed so much and said looking straight at me "Not anymore." By the look in his eyes and the way he was smiling I knew exactly what he was thinking."Oh no." I said "No way." He tilted his head to the side and look way to innocent for his own good as he asked me "Why not?" I shook my head really not wanted to rain on this parade and really not wanting to remember this at the moment.

"I have to leave in the morning. Remember?" I said in barely a whisper while looking down at the floor and trying not to feel too bad about getting everyone in a bad mood. I mean, someone had to logical about this. If it was me, so be it.

Once I said that everyone stopped everything. Everyone knew I was going away tomorrow morning, but no one wanted to remember. Especially not Fang and me. I looked over at my long time friend to find him already looking at me. I could read in his eyes that he wanted me to stay and that he was trying to find a way to keep me here.

With my eyes, I tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault that I was in this and that he didn't have to try to fix it but he wasn't going to listen to me and we both knew it. He opened his mouth to, no doubt, tell me one of his many plans and I opened mine to tell him he didn't have to think about this when we were both interrupted by someone in the arch way of the living room.

"I think I might be of some help here." We all turned to see Ella's and Nudge's mom, Dr. Martinez, walking up to us. She came and sat on the sofa arm that was right next to Nudge.

I would never have been able to imagine what she said next.

Ok u know what I want…

REVEIWS !!!!

So please review :D

Oh and no offense to Doesn't Matter but I hate high school musical

Sorry *shrugs slightly*


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Max's POV**

"I have a question." she said to us. Everyone turned to look at her and give her our attention. "For Max." she added.

I looked at her quizzically while everyone else looked at me. "Why? Did I do something wrong? I told Nudge not to let me near the cooking stuff."

She smiled at me and said in reply "No, Max, the food was fine and so was everything else in the kitchen for that matter. What I came here to asked you was if…well…do you like it here? In this town I mean?"

I gave her a confused look and said without hesitation "Of course. What does this have to do with anything?"

Now she gave me a questioning look and asked me "What makes you like this place? I thought it would seem boring to someone who's traveled as much as you."

I grinned at her and at what she had said. I thought for a moment then said with rightness of it, practically, ringing in my ears "It may seem boring to most people but 1) I am not most people" I heard a slight chuckle from Fang behind me as my own grin widened "and 2) do you know the saying 'home is where the heart is'?" She nodded her head yes. "Well, I think that its true. I also think that your heart is with the ones who love you and the ones you love. Most of the time that's our family. For me it's a lot different. For me, for some weird and unknown reason, it's with this guy" I said while slinging my arm around Fang's shoulders and pulling him towards me a little "who I spent two years with, wondered and worried about for eight, and, after I ran for God knows how long, literally, crashed into at a coffee shop in this middle-of-nowhere town. So, from what's happened to me so far, this place isn't all that boring. Don't ya' think?"

She looked at me like she wasn't all that sure what to make of me. I bet it was between well meaning, weird girl and an insane, raving lunatic.

Anyway.

Once she was done trying to figure me out she shook her head a little and said "Well I really wasn't expecting that but I think that means this should go over smoothly. Well, 'should' might not be the best word but…" After a bit of silence Fang and I asked her at the same time "Well?"

I looked over at him. I still had my arm slung over his shoulders. Now he moved a little, dislodged my arm and put his around me. I smiled up at him then we turned back and looked at Dr. Martinez. She sighed a little and asked, mostly herself, "Will I ever get used to that?"

That comment got everyone confused. Then Ella's eyes widened and she started ginning like a fool. Nudge gave her a questioning look so Ella whispered something into her ear. Then Nudge got all wide-eyed and happy. Then she went over and told Angle, who told Gazzy, who told Iggy, who told Fang who looked at me like he was told that the sky wasn't blue but, in fact, purple. Everyone was grinning like a maniac (and they call _me_ weird) and Fang was still giving me and Dr. Martinez this look of total disbelief.

I did a face- palmed then looked Fang straight in the eye and asked/ yelled "What's going on?! Why are you all grinning like a bunch of idiots?!" He blinked once, shook his head a little, then started grinning like everyone else. "Not you too!" I said and everyone laughed.

Even Fang.

After a bit of this everyone stopped and I asked again in a more rational voice "Really, though, what's everyone so smiley over?" Fang looked me straight in the eye like I had done with him a few minutes before and said simply "What to get adopted by Dr. Martinez and have Ella and Nudge for sisters?"

I opened my mouth but no sound came out. I could tell he wasn't joking, I could tell he was really excited about this. But the one thing that really made me want to jump for joy was that I could tell that he actually wanted me here. I shook my head back and forth in pure disbelief of this and that I might actually get adopted by people that cared.

His smile faltered and I could tell that he thought that I was saying no to the adoption. He was really anxious about this and really wanted me to stay. Now that I thought about it they all really wanted me to stay.

So instead of saying anything and messing this up, I decided on something a bit less wordy. I simply hugged him. As usual he stiffened up and became a statue. I was going to make it quick and began to pull back almost as soon as I had hugged him.

But then he surprised me.

Instead of letting me pull back he stopped me. I knew Fang didn't like hugs and became a statue as soon as you hugged him. He wasn't into much physical contact with anyone for that matter. I didn't know why but it was a fact of life. He always had and I thought he always would. I was, apparently, wrong.

This time he stopped me just as I was about to let go completely. At this point we both stopped. Then, slowly but surely, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. I wasn't entirely sure what he was and wasn't going to do at this point but I still wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back.

Apparently, life facts didn't feel like being enforced today. I had known him on occasion to return a hug, like at the coffee shop, but I had never known him to start one, although this was more semi- start but still.

"So, are you gonna stay?" he asked in a whisper into my ear. I smiled although he couldn't see that and said "Of course. What else am I gonna do? Leave you all by yourself? I don't think so." I felt his grip tighten on me and I tightened my on him. After a bit I felt him move his head slightly in what I assume was a nod because after he did that everyone started yelling 'Yes!' and stuff like that. It was really funny.

Everyone ended up hugging me although I'm not too sure why. Then Nudge said "I know! How about we make a cake!?" Everyone thought this was a good idea so we started walking over to the kitchen with Iggy in the lead. He was assigning jobs to everyone and was, thank God, not telling me to do anything when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned to see who it was and was surprised to find that it was Dr. Martinez. "Max, I have another question for you." she said. I looked at her and said with a small smile on my face "Go right ahead."

"I want to make this clear to you," she said with all the seriousness of the world "at some point or another you're going to need a psych evaluation." I blink surprised for a moment then said, with all the grace in the world "What? Why?"

Ok so I was totally confused but can you blame me? Thought so. Anyway.

She said in reply "Max I know that you probably don't want to do this" What did she mean by _probably_? "but you were kidnapped for two weeks and attacked a police officer without even meaning to." I was about to ask how exactly she knew this when she said "John told me when I said that I might adopt you." Pretty good. "Plus you just seem to have been through a lot and I think talking to someone about this will help you."

I was about to argue with her when a thought hit me and I asked her "There is nothing getting me out of this, is there?" She half smiled at me and said "Sorry, but no."

I smirked at her and said in reply "I don't want to ruin this afternoon so I'm going to forget about this and hope it all goes away. That ok with you?"She laughed a little at this and said "As long as you go when I bring you sure, you can do that." I smiled and we walked back over to the others.

Fang came over and sat on the counter next to me while I was watching everyone in the kitchen. Dr. Martinez had disappeared off to the porch where the grownups were hanging out. I looked over at him when I did this and he looked back and asked "Having a good time?" I smiled and said simply "The best."

He smiled back and said in reply "Good, because the night has only just begun." I laughed at his failed attempt at being dramatic and went back to watching everyone cooking.

But he was right; the night really had only just begun…

**Review?**

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**The worst thing you've ever read?**

**PLEASE TELL ME !!!**

**Oh, and questions r good too :D**


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Max's POV**

After the cake was in the oven we all went into the living room and messed around with whatever the name of the game was.

Once we got bored with that someone suggested we go outside and play tag. We all agreed and as we went out the grownups went in. They said something about it getting dark and that was why they were heading in. I didn't know why they would want to leave even though it was getting dark.

The backyard was beautiful. It had trees all around; spaced out yet close together. Around the whole thing was a fence that would be easy to climb and beyond that was forest. Lots of forest. It was the most beautiful place I had seen in ages.

Once all the adults left Nudge did some sorta rhyming thing to pick who was it. Iggy got picked and we all ran like hell. After being chased and laughing up a storm I figured out it would be nice to hide somewhere and watch everyone from there.

I looked around and found a climbable tree. I checked to see if anyone would see me climb up but everyone was on the other side of the yard running away from Nudge. I quickly and silently climbed up the tree and hid in the thick green leaves. I watched as everyone ran around and had fun. I hadn't admitted it down on the ground but another reason I wasn't running around with them right now was because my ribs still hurt and breathing hard was doing nothing for the pain.

Although watching everyone so happy and laughing and just living in general was a nice alternative to having to watch a mostly empty room all day. This was definitely better.

A noise from behind me pulled me out of my day dreaming and back into the present. I turned around to see Fang sitting on the branch behind me looking at me with a masked expression. I smiled and asked quietly "How'd you know I was up here? I thought I was hidden pretty well." He smirked and said in a whispered reply "I figured you would want to climb a tree sooner or later and saw you hanging around this one earlier. Once I hadn't seen you for a while I thought you might be up here so I climbed up. Guess I was right." I chuckled a little then asked "Am I really that predictable?" He shrugged a little and I thought that was all I was going to get out of him but he surprised me by adding "You forget. I know you better than anyone else."

His forehead creased and he said half to me and half to himself "At least I used to be." I grinned at this and said "Don't worry. You're still the only person on earth who knows me this well. Actually you may be the only person on terra ferma who knows me at all." He tilted his head to the side obviously wondering what I meant by that.

I sighed then said in reply to his unspoken question. "Remember when you told me that you hadn't talked to anyone for about two years?" He nodded in reply. "Well I went almost the whole eight years. The first person I talked to was either my keeper or the 911 operator. Not sure which though." Fang's eyes went a little wide but otherwise he showed no reaction what so ever.

Whereas this would mean little if someone else did this, for Fang this meant that his mouth would be wide open, his eyes would be bugged out, and after a bit he would say something along the lines of 'How the hell did you do that?!?'

With Fang you had to read between the lines.

Or in this case reactions.

Anyway.

After a bit he blink and asked "Why?" I was about to tell him when Angle yelled from the foot of the tree "I found them!" We both looked down to see her and, after a bit, everyone else standing there. Angle and Nudge were both smiling up at us, Gazzy was looking at the two of them with a slightly confused expression, and Iggy was standing with his arms folded across his chest and yelled up "Come lovebirds! The cake's done!"

I didn't need to look at Fang to know that he was glaring daggers down at Iggy and so was I. Iggy backed away slowly then turned and ran.

I swear if looks could kill he would've frozen, burst into flames, and then become no more than a spec on the ground. Seeing as they can't, I started thinking up my plan for revenge on the boy. He had no idea who he was messing with…

Fang and I got down from the tree and walked back to the house. Once inside the smell of cake hit me like a wave. I loved sweets. All kinds. Cake was definitely the third best treat mankind has created.

Iggy was cutting the cake and everyone was lining up to get a slice. I was standing at the back of the line waiting for Gazzy to choose a piece when Fang leaned down and asked me from behind "You still love hot chocolate right?"

I turned around to see him with a box of instant hot chocolate packets. I grinned like a maniac and said with all kinds of surprise in my voice "How the heck did you remember?!?" He smiled back and said in a voice that was way saner than mine "How could _anyone_ forget the time you nearly tackled Kate and ended up-" He was cut off by everyone as they said in perfect unison "running straight into the closet and buried in bedding."

Fang and I looked at the others as they said this and a little after they were done I said in a wary voice "You guys had to have rehearsed that. It was just to perfect to be unrehearsed, right?" Everyone who had just talked in perfect freaking unison grinned at me like I had when I had heard about the hot chocolate except they seemed a bit more sane although not by much.

I glanced over at Fang who was now standing beside me and saw him with a slight smile on his face. I gave him a quizzical look and he raised both eyebrows slightly and glanced quickly up then back at me. I knew what he meant and thought back to our earlier conversation on the roof. I remembered that he had told stories to the others so many times that they knew some of them by heart. I gave him a slight nod to say that I under stood then looked down slightly at the box and back up at him giving him a hopeful look.

He half smiled, sighed and asked "Me too?" I grinned again and said "Sure two coming right up."

I walked over to the cabinets that I had seen the cups in grabbed two mugs, filled them with some water, put one in the microwave, and put it going. I got two spoons out of a drawer I found on the third try and looked over at Fang.

He threw the box as soon as I had spun around but I was ready for it. I caught it with no trouble and spun as soon as it hit my hands. I grabbed two packs out of the box and put one on the counter. The microwave beeped and Fang appeared, got the cup out while simultaneously putting the other in.

I got the one he took out and ripped the top of one of the packets open and poured it in the mug while I put the spoon in and stirred it a little. I put the mug on the side and spun slightly as I switched places with Fang. He began stirring the first mug while I grabbed the second out of the microwave. I ripped the second packet the same way I had the first, dumped its contents into the mug and stirred slightly.

Fang was done with the other so we switched again the same way as earlier. I grabbed the finished cup of chocolate and put it down by the two plates of cake Fang had fixed earlier while I was looking for stuff. I went through some other cabinets, found the marshmallows, spun around as Fang looked up from setting the second cup down by the other plate and threw the bag at him as he had thrown the box at me.

As I walked back to the counter in the middle of the kitchen he opened the bag grabbed two for himself and had the bag off to me as I past on the way to my plate. I grabbed two and plopped them into my drink. I picked up the drink, we clinked mugs for old time's sake then had a drink.

After I put my hot chocolate down I looked over at everyone else and notice everyone was 1) actually here (I had somewhat forgotten that anyone was in the kitchen but me and Fang) and 2) that they were looking at us with lack jaws and wide eyes. I tilted my head to the side and asked in a voice I thought was way too innocent to have come from me "What?"

The others had several reactions to this. Gazzy did a face palm, which I smiled a little at. Nudge looked like she wanted to say a million different things at once and couldn't figure out what to say first and Angle was grinning, well, angelically. Iggy's was the funniest though. He looked up and gave the ceiling a long glare then looked back at us and said in a voice of mock irritation "Of all the people to get stuck with the weird, synchronized, lovebirds it had to be us, didn't it?"

I took half a second for me to decide I'd rather laugh at this than kill him for the last part of his sentence. So after that half second of indecision I started laughing. It wasn't light either; it was full blown cackling and I was leaning on Fang so I wouldn't fall down. Fang was laughing too although some of it might have been because of my reaction to Ig's joke and not all just the joke itself. After a bit the others joined in until everyone was laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the entire world.

I'm not really sure why though. The joke was funny but it wasn't _that_ funny. Yet we were laughing like it was. Sometimes I don't get myself. But more often than not I don't get everyone else so at least that was still normal.

Eventually the adults came in, presumably, to see what all the noise was about. When they came in they found us all on the floor laughing our butts off. They all looked at us like we were the weirdest thing they'd seen in ages. Then Mrs. Owens asked us "What's so funny?"

I tried, Fang tried, everyone else tried, but no one could tell her through all the laughter. She just shook her head at us then said in a slightly amused voice "Well you can stop laughing first."

After a while we all got a handle on ourselves. Fang was the first to stop laughing, then me, then everyone else. Although everyone was still smiling, except for Fang who was only half smiled. Nudge ended up tell her what had happened. After her long winded explanation the adults didn't seem to be able to believe her.

"They couldn't do all that, could they?" asked Dr. M once we had gotten Nudge, who had gone completely off topic, to shut up.

I felt my smile grow a little bit and said in reply "You wouldn't believe some of things we've done." Iggy looked over at me and said "Oh yeah? What have you guys done that was so bad?" I shook my head and told him "It's not so much bad as you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Ig raised an eyebrow at me and said "Try me." I smiled at him and asked "He ever tell you the time I broke my arm?" he shook his no. "Well" I said "let me fill you in then."

I sat down on the counter and started tell my story. "We had been hanging out in the woods by the orphanage and we were climbing the trees. I grabbed a branch and it broke. I fell and broke my arm. After I cursed at gravity, the ground, and the tree Fang helped me up and when we got back we went straight to Kate.

She freaked when she saw the shape my arm was in and called an ambulance. When it got there I was already getting used to the pain level and Fang was trying to make me laugh. I don't remember his jokes being all that funny but I think I laughed at the sheer stupidity of them."

I sent Fang a sideways glance. He smirked and said I a sarcastic voice "Thanks so much for the complement." I grinned, nudged him a little so he knew I was joking and continued with the story.

"Anyway. The EMT's got in to the building, found us and tried to put me on a stretcher. That didn't go over to well. Then, they wanted to bring just me. That didn't go over to well either.

After a while Fang and I were stubborn enough to get them to let us both go in the thing. Once at the hospital they tried separating us again but we glared at just about everyone who tried and even though we were little we were pretty creepy. Needless to say they quit trying. Fang stayed with me the entire time we both bugged the doctors enough that after 2 days of what was supposed to be a 5 day stay they let me leave. We laughed and laughed the whole way back to the orphanage."

I chuckled a little then said almost to myself "About a month later Fang broke his arm and we had to go back. You could tell who had been there when I had gone and who hadn't." This got everyone laughing again, including the adults.

Then Nudge said "Wait!" We all looked over at her "We never had Fang sing for the sing off!" We all looked at each other, after a few seconds I looked at Fang and he looked at me. "Well at least her randomness is good for something." he said. I grinned at that then said "How about we go do that now." Everyone agreed and put their dishes up.

Everyone had eaten while I was talking where as I had eaten when Nudge had been talking. Smart, huh? We all piled into the living room and got ready to listen to listen to Fang sing.

This should be interesting…

**Hi**

**So what did u think of it?**

**Please review?**

**Please?**

**Oh and I wanted to know what the average amount of reviews u get for one chapter are.**

**Just tell me what yours is, that's all I really wanted to know.**

**I just wanted to see if I was getting excited over nothing or if I should actually be excited about it.**

**Anyway… :D**


	15. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Max's POV**

After a lot of yelling, laughing, and pillow throwing (don't ask) Fang picked a song, This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars. Everyone who actually knew how to work the controls had one.

So that left me with Angle to my right and Fang to my left. "This should be really cool." said Angle from beside me. I smiled at her but the truth was I had never heard the song so I didn't really know what to expect.

They started off slow…

_A warning to the people,  
The good and the evil,  
This is war._

To the soldier, the civilian,  
The martyr, the victim,  
This is war.

It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie,  
The moment to live and the moment to die,  
The moment to fight, the moment to fight  
To fight, to fight, to fight!

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
From the last to the first

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world!

A warning to the prophet,  
The liar, the honest,  
This is war.

To the leader, the pariah,  
The victor, the messiah,  
This is war.

It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie,  
The moment to live and the moment to die,  
The moment to fight, the moment to fight,  
To fight, to fight, to fight!

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
From the last to the first

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world!

I do believe in the light  
Raise your hands into the sky  
The fight is done, the war is won  
Lift your hands toward the sun  
Toward the sun  
Toward the sun  
Toward the sun  
The war is won

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
From the last to the first

To the right, To the left  
We will fight to the death!  
To the edge of the earth  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world!

A brave new world  
The war is won  
The war is won  
A brave new world

Fang turned and looked over at me during the small break in the music. He looked straight into my eyes and I swear he could see everything I was thinking. It was a weird feeling but… it was a good weird…I think.__

I believe in nothing  
Not the end and not the start  
I believe in nothing  
Not the earth and not the stars  
I believe in nothing  
Not the day and not the dark  
I believe in nothing  
But the beating of our hearts

I believe in nothing  
One-hundred suns 'til we part  
I believe in nothing  
Not in Satan and not in God  
I believe in nothing  
Not in peace and not in war  
I believe in nothing  
But the truth in who we are

When the song stopped Fang was still looking into my eyes and I still thought he could read me like was an open book.

"Wahoo! Ya! That was awesome!" yelled Iggy.

We both looked away quickly, snapped out of whatever trance we had each other in. His shout was meant with the shout of the others.

"Why so much noise?" asked John, Fang's dad, who had just come from the porch outside with the rest of the grownups. Everyone turned to look at him. I swear I was going to get wipe lash from all the head twisting. "Sorry" said Ig "but it was awesome." I did a face palm and I heard Fang sigh slightly.

"Really, Iggy, really?" said Ella form the other side of the room. Iggy shrugged in reply and said "How I roll, dude, how I roll." I rolled my eyes, reached over, and slapped him in the back of the head. It wasn't a hard slap, just enough to get him to notice. "Hey!" he said in a confused voice.

I laughed and Fang chuckled. John rolled his eyes at our silliness and said "Angle Gazzy mom said to go up stairs and get some sleep. It's already 12:30." They didn't look to happy about it but they went up stairs. Then they came back down and flung themselves at me. I just reacted and caught them, although their aim was pretty good.

"Night Max." said Angle. Then they went and hugged everyone else. Once they were done hugging everyone, including Fang, they went back up stairs. I shook my head a little because I wasn't very used to getting hugs and really not used to being tackled by a nine and seven year old randomly.

"You're lucky." I wiped my head around (damn wipe lash) to see Fang crouched right next to me. He sat down and I asked him "Why?" I didn't think he was talking about getting adopted so I had no idea what he was talking about. "They don't take to just anyone like that." he said, gesturing to where the kids had gone. "I know I am." He gave me a slightly confused look. "That I'm lucky." He half smiled at this. I smiled at back.

Then Nudge asked everyone "So, movies anyone? Because I think it would be great to watch a movie right now, don't you?" We all agreed one way or another then Ella said "How about we just get in pajamas and get the living room set up if we're going to watch a movie." Everyone agreed again. "Wait, Max doesn't have any pj's." said Nudge.

"I can sleep in this. I don't mind." I said in reply. Nudge waved a hand in my direction clearly deciding to ignore me and started asking Ella about what cloths I could sleep in. "I have some shorts that'll fit her but no tops. What about you?" Nudge said to Ella. Ella shook her head and said in reply "I don't think I have anything that'll fit her." She looked over at me, smiled apologetically at me and said "Sorry Max." I shook my head in slight frustration. "Seriously, it fine. I don't mind sleeping in this.' I said gesturing to what I was wearing.

While I was at the hospital, they had been nice enough to wash my clothes for me. My jeans were still ripped up a bit but my tank top looked fine. I had one of Fang's hoodies on because I had been cold at the hospital and he had told me he could take seeing me shake that much.

I was pretty comfortable in it and I could sleep in it no problem but they weren't listening. After much eye rolling and sighing on my part I ended up being shoved into a bathroom with one of Fang's T-shirts and Nudge's shorts. I sighed as I heard someone move something in front of the door in an attempt to keep it closed. I knew Nudge wouldn't give up until I was wearing the improvised pj's so I just showered and got changed.

The shirt was black (of course) and the shorts were light blue. What sucked was that the shorts only came down to about my mid thigh and the shirt came down about an inch above the shorts. I glared at the image the mirror was giving me and wished hard for some basket ball shorts and one of my old T's. I sighed, looked away from the mirror and knocked on the door.

"I'm done Nudge. You can let me out now." I watched the door open up just a little, Nudge poke her head in, then swung it the rest of the way out. She smiled then said "Now that wasn't so hard was it?" I rolled my eyes at her then went into the living room wear Iggy and Fang had put all the sleeping bags and pillows haphazardly around. I surveyed the room trying to find and place where I could sleep and watch the movie.

"You can take the couch." I spun around and found Fang standing there with a slightly amused expression on his face. "Would you quit doing that?" I said annoyed that he could still sneak up on me that easily. "What, breathing?" He then turned and went up stairs to, I'm guessing, get dressed.

Once everyone was situated we picked a movie and one by one everyone drifted off.

I tried to stay awake but I blame the couch. It is _way_ too comfy.

**Alright people I have a semi plan for what I'm doing next :**

**I'm going to have them go to the mall and have the foster care person come over after she wakes up, AKA ch.14. After that I'll have 2 or 3 chapters on what happens during the summer then have school start up. During the summer it'll mostly be fun and/or funny stuff but after school starts thing should be interesting… **

**R&R please!**

**And if you have questions send me those too :D **


	16. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Max's POV**

All that night I dreamt but it wasn't nightmares.

It was memories of Fang and me at the orphanage.

It was actually nice to dream for a change. Normally when I dream it's a nightmare or it turns into a nightmare.

I woke up slowly and opened my eyes to weak light coming through the windows, the smell of something good being cooked, and the feel of something wrapped around my stomach just above my stitches. I didn't really feel like getting up so I rolled over but stayed in place because there wasn't a lot of room where ever I was. I curled up a little bit more but not much and started to drift back to sleep when I heard the faint and unmistakable sound of snickering. I felt the thing wrapped, now, around my back tighten slightly then realized that that thing was actually an arm.

My eyes flew open and my mind went into over drive. All I could see was black when I opened my eyes so I pushed off whatever it was and tried to sit up. I failed miserably trying to get up. I was twisted around and my getting up caused my stitches to pull at the skin it was connected to. Let me tell you the skin made it very clear it didn't like that one bit.

I sucked in a startled hiss of a breath, whimpered loudly, and let my arms give out so I wasn't twisted up as much. I moved my legs around so that I was laying flat on my side instead of some of me facedown and the rest sideways. I clenched my teeth together so I would scream, closed my eyes tightly, and curled my hand into a fist with some sort of material in it. I felt whatever was next to me tense up, heard concerned whispers above my head, and smelt food somewhere through it all.

"Max?" I heard a voice say very quietly and packed with hidden concern if you knew how to look for it. I forced my eyes to open and again saw only black. I tried to think and finally figured out was going on when I finally remembered what had happened lasted night.

Fang and I had been lying on the sofa when I had fallen asleep. I must have moved around in my sleep and he must have too. The end result being me lying next to him with one of his arms wrapped around me. When I had flipped over someone must have seen and started snickering. I had reacted to whatever was in front of me off of pure instinct and had hurt myself in the process. When I got hurt I must have woken up Fang and he was probably the one trying to talk to me right now.

I raised my head carefully and looked right into black ones. I could tell that he was worried I had hurt myself and could tell he was trying to hide it. I smiled at him reassuringly and said "I'm fine." "Awww." I heard from behind me. I was startled by it and started twisting around so I could see what was behind me.

Luckily, Fang had a little more sense than me and tightened his grip so I couldn't move. I was about to glare at him for that when I realized what he was doing. I looked him in the eyes and saw a warning clearly telling me not to move. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I put a hand on his arm and told him without words that I would be fine. He didn't seem to believe me so I moved his arm, which he reluctantly let me move, and rolled off the couch landing on my feet and straightening up as I got my footing.

That's when I realized I was surrounded by Angle, Nudge, Ells, Gaz, and Ig. They were all looking at me with weird expressions on their face. I narrowed my eyes at them and said in a slightly menacing voice "What." They all chorused in with various versions of 'nothing', left the living room, and headed for the kitchen; where the smell was coming from. Once everyone had left I looked over at Fang who still looked a little worried. "You sure you're ok?" he asked, looking me over as if expecting blood to come to the surface of my cloths at any moment.

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling then back at Fang. "I. Am. Fine. Ok?" He smirked a little at me then said "Alright, lets grab some breakfast." I rolled my eyes at him while he got up and head for the kitchen with me right behind him. When we got there Iggy was making something that smelled _really_ good (as stated several times previously), Ella and Nudge were doing things like stirring stuff and handing him things while Angle and Gazzy sat at the table talking about something to do with summer.

I stopped and looked around the room trying to find something to do till the food was done that didn't have anything to do with the food. Then Fang asked from across the kitchen "Want to help with setting the table?" I shrugged and walked over to help him. "People?" I asked him and he replied "Eight." I nodded and we grabbed everything we need form the cabinets and drawers and headed over to the table.

While Fang and I got the table set Iggy, Ella, and Nudge got the food out on it. I was about to pick up the extra plate when I heard someone at the front door. Angle got up and ran to get it while the rest of us sat down to eat. "Don't pick that up." said Fang noticing what I was doing. I sat down like everyone else and a few seconds later Angle came back in with Dr. M in tow.

"Max" she said as she came and sat at the table to eat with us "I called foster care about adopting you this morning and they said that Clair would be coming around five with your things from your former home and make sure you really want to stick around." I smiled at her and said "Cool. I'm sure Clair will love to meet you guys." She smiled at this and we all started eating.

After a bit Nudge broke the silence (shocker) by saying "So Max, other than what you have with you, what do you own?" I gave her an are-you-serious look that she simply smiled at. I rolled my eyes and said "Three or four tank tops, two or three pairs of jeans, a hoodie, under stuff, and hair ties. I think that's it." Nudge, Ella, and Gazzy looked at me with open mouths, Iggy with wide eyes, Dr. M with shock, and Fang just laughed.

I looked over at Fang and asked "What's so funny?" After his laughter died down a bit he said "It's funny that I can actually imagine you living like that but even funnier imagining Nugde living like that." I grinned at him and he grinned back. I could just imagine her ranting and raving all day that she didn't have enough cloths to wear or something along those lines.

I hadn't known her for very long but I had a feeling her closet was _huge_.

Then "I will not stand for this! I am taking you to the mall right now and getting you cloths. That's ok with you, right mom?" she said looking at Dr. M for the ok. She nodded and said "I'll drop you Max and Ella off as soon as everyone is ready."

I looked at Nudge for a bit then said without running it by my brain first "There is no way I'm getting out of this am I." I looked over at Fang who was, by the way, sitting next to me. He shook his head and replied "No, once Nudge has her mind set on going to the mall there's no talking her out of it." I let my head hang and sighed loudly.

"Well" I said "I suppose there's has to be a first time for everything." I could feel Fang looking at me so I looked up and saw the confused expression on his face. I smiled slightly and said loud enough for everyone to hear without meaning to be that loud "I've never been in a mall before."

There was silence.

Complete and utter silence.

Then everyone said two different things at the same time. The girls said "What?" in a completely horrified tone while the guys said "Lucky!" It was really funny. So I laughed.

Then I felt hands on my right arm and was pulled from my chair in seconds. "What-!"I said then stumbled and nearly ended up flat on my face as Nudge and Ella dragged me upstairs. Once up they threw my cloths at me which I caught then pushed me into the bathroom. As soon as I was in they closed and locked the doors behind me. "Get change! We're leaving in half an hour!" I heard Nudge yell through the door. I sighed and set about getting ready to face the mall.

_And I didn't even get to finish breakfast_ I thought miserably to myself as I hopped into the shower.

Dr. M, Ella, Nudge, Angle, and I were now outside the mall about to walk in. The guys had all stayed back at the house and since Ella and Nudge were more focused about getting me there than anyone else they didn't make them come. I tried to convince Fang but it didn't work.

I was relentlessly cursing his name in my head as we walked through the doors and into the crowds.

We eventually found the food court and Dr. M stopped us there. We gathered around her and she said "Ok, girls, be back here at about 12:30 and we'll have lunch here. Oh, and Angle stay with one them so you don't get lost. You wouldn't want your mom fussing at me, would you?" Angle giggled a little and said in a sweet and innocent voice "I won't get lost." Dr. M smiled at her then looked back over at all of and said to everyone "All right! Good luck with your shopping! Have fun!" She then smiled at us, turned and left.

_Yeah,_ I thought to myself glumly _I'm going to have fun in mall stuffed with a bunch of strangers and various things Angle, Ella, and Nudge can torture me with since they have __**two**__ credit cards. _I sighed and turned to Nudge, figuring she might have an idea of what to do next I asked "So what now?" She grinned at me and I'll admit I was a little freaked by it. "Now we shop!" she said and she grabbed my arm.

I knew what was coming and said in a slight panic "Wait!" She looked up at me and asked "What? We're going to go to Aeropostale and get you some cute cloths cause, I mean, seriously, you really need some new cloths. And a makeover would be good for you too. Maybe even a –" I cut her off by wrapping my hand around her mouth.

I sighed and told her "I was just gonna say I was getting something to eat because you pulled me away from breakfast when I wasn't even half way done. So" I said while moving my hand "you guys go to the store, I'll grab something, meet you there. Sound good?" I got nods from Angle while Ella gave me a credit card and her cell (just in case) and Nudge said "Ok Max! The store is right across the walk way, right there, ok?" I nodded and said in a slightly exasperated voice "I got it Nudge."

They all turned and started heading for the store so I turned and started figuring out what to eat. There were a lot of choices but once I saw the cookie shop I headed straight for it. I got about five chocolate chip cookies and started heading for the store the girls had gone in earlier when I stopped.

Did I really want to go get torture by three girls with a store full of cloths and a credit card?

Heck no!

I shook my head, turned, and started walking down the hallways of the mall. After looking in shop windows and questioning people's sense if they thought 5 inch heels were anything other than an abstract form of torture I found a shop that didn't look to bad. The cloths we ok and didn't seem all that fancy. Especially since it had a lot of T-shirts, jeans, and some tank tops.

I walked around the store picking out a few random T's in different sizes, and then I went to the fitting room to figure out exactly what size I was. For those of you who are going '_What girl doesn't know her own size?_'I'm sure you've figured out I'm not your average, run of the mill, girly-girl. If you haven't then I feel very very sorry for you and your brain.

After that was done I went and found some shirts, jeans, and tank tops that I liked. Throughout the time I was in there I was half looking at the entrance/exit of the store for any signs of Nugde and the others. If they knew I had abandoned them (which they should be figuring out any second now) they would search every inch of this place twice before they would even _considered_ giving up. Maybe even more because they seemed pretty convinced that I had no fashion sense in me.

Once I had enough cloths to actually have to consider putting them in a closet I went to the counter, paid, and headed out the store. I was trying to think of what to do next when something started buzzing in my pocket.

I nearly yelled but instead simply jumped about a foot in the air and stared down at my pocket. It vibrated again and my brain finally decided to kicked in and remember I had a cell I my pocket. I muttered at the inventions of the modern world, got the thing out my pocket, stared at it for a few seconds, and then hit the green button to (hopefully) answer the thing.

Luckily I hit the right button.

"Hello?" I said/asked the person on the other end. "Ella? Is that you?" I was confused for a minute trying to figure out where I knew this voice form. Then it clicked. "Oh! Fang! Hey! What's up?" There was silence for a few moments then "Max? Is that you?" I grinned at the surprise in his voice. It's just so funny when I can surprise Fang. So very funny.

I replied "Yep. The one and only." There was a few more moments of silence "Why do-?" "-I have Ella's phone? She gave it to me so I could call if I got lost when I went for something to eat." "Where is-?" "-everyone else? After I got something to eat I decided against going back willingly and started shopping on my own. I got everything I need, finished a minute before you called actually." "Where are-" "-you? Well in this case me. I just got to this water fountain and I hope you know where that is because I sure don't." "Are you-" "-going to stop finishing your sentences and answering them too anytime soon? If you asked me nicely to stop I might." I heard a slight sigh on the other end then "Stop. Please." I smiled and said in reply "See know was that so hard?"

I heard him chuckling then he said "You know it's weird when you do that right?" I grinned at this and laughed a little. "Isn't that what friends are for?" I could tell he was shaking his head at me before he replied saying "Anyway. Dr. M told me to tell Ella something but it's about you anyway so this'll be easier." I sat down at one of the tables next to the fountain and watched the water cascade down into the small pool of water with various coins in it. "Shoot." I told him. "She said she's going to make me walk to the mall to help you pick out a cell phone and an iPod. I told her you would say you would be fine on your own but she didn't believe me." I smiled at this. He knew me well. "So it'll take me about ten minutes to walk there. Where are you in the mall again?" "I'm sitting next to the fountain. Is there another fountain in here or is that a good enough landmark, or in this case mall mark?" I could hear the amusement in his voice as he said "There's only one. I'll see you in about fifteen- twenty minutes. Oh, and good luck hiding from everyone. Bye." I smiled a little and said "Thanks. Bye."

We hung up and I continued watching and listening to the water moving around in the fountain.

About ten fifteen minutes after I had hung up with Fang he hadn't shown up yet and I was still at the same table looking at the fountain.

I heard the chair across from me move and looked up to see if it was Fang or one of the girls.

It was neither.

Sitting across from me was a boy about my age with sand brown hair, brown eyes, t- shirt, and jeans. He also looked way too cocky and sure of himself. "Hey, babe, how's it going?" I gave him an _are-you-serious_ look and said in reply "Go away." I looked back at the fountain and hoped he just take the hint and leave.

Since this is _my_ life we're talking about here he didn't. "Hey" he said and I looked over at him with a bored expression on my face "you can't just blow me off like that." I half smiled at him and said in an amused tone "I just did." Before he could said anything else I got up, grabbed the bag full of cloths, and started walking away. I was hoping he wouldn't try to follow me.

Guess what he did?

Yep, he followed me.

I heard his foot steps behind me and planned on getting lost in a crowed but before I could he grabbed my wrist and turned me back around to face him. "Let. Me. Go." I said in a deathly tone. He seemed to hesitate for a moment then he shook his head getting a cocky look in his eyes and said "Make me." I looked him straight in the eye and ginned a very evil grin. His eyes widened a little and I saw fear in his eyes.

"Well," said in a voice that sounded deadly "if you insist."

Now I may have had stitches. I may have been battered and bruised. I may have been slightly mentally unstable even. But I was also not going to let some boy tell me what to do or push me around. And if he thought I was going to be easy, well, he had another thing coming.

I balled my hands into fists and got ready to punch him or kick him or something. I was even considered using one of the chairs. Then "Let her go Sam." The boy looked over my shoulder and his eyes narrowed. Then I looked back to see who had spoken. I smiled a little. It was Fang but he didn't look too happy. "What do you want, Fang?"

Hmm, so the guy who was messing with me must be Sam. And he knew Fang. Well now to get his attention back on me. "Hey, Sam." He looked back down at me with a surprised look on his face. Probably didn't think I knew his name. "Let me go or you will experience extreme pain." He got an arrogant little smirk on his face and said "No way." I shrug and said in reply "Well you can't say I didn't warn you."

I then punch him in the nose.

Hard.

I heard a loud crunch and felt his nose move under my fist. He fell to his back and I watched as he held his nose trying to stop the bleeding and trying to get up to, no doubt, try and hit me back. I felt someone grab my hand and turned to see it was Fang. "Come on. Before he gets up." I nodded and we walked quickly from where people were starting to gather. Once we were somewhat lost in the crowd we ducked into one of the various shops and Fang ask "What the heck were you thinking?" I raised an eyebrow at him and said "Hey I warned him before I hit him." He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

He looked out the shop, I guess trying to see if we were followed. Then he looked back at me and I could tell we weren't followed by the way he hadn't tensed up. "Are you sure you're ok?" I smiled, shook my head slightly and reassuringly said "Fang, I'm fine. Quit worrying about me and bring me where ever it was Dr. M told you to." He smirked and said in reply "Were there."

I gave him a confused look. Then I turned and saw that we really were where we needed to be. He had said the Dr. M had said that I had needed some help with finding some electronic things. It just so happened that we were currently in an electronic store with all the gadgets and gizmos you could want.

I turned back to Fang, half heartedly glared at the half smile he had on his face and said "You know I hate it when right, right?" His half smile grew into a grin and he walked past me, deeper into the store then called over his shoulder at me "Come on. We've got stuff to find before the girls find you."

After much debate on color, plan, make, model, and whole lot of other things I can't think of at the moment we found a cell phone and an iPod for me.

By the time we got out the store it was time to meet the others at the food court. Everyone was there by the time we showed up and as we walked up to the group all the girls came running at me, yelling and shout about how I abandoned them and something about a cute guy they wanted to fix me up with.

When I heard about the last one I said "WAIT!" They all stopped talking and I began talking before they could start again. "Alright, I went get some cookies when I figured I'd look around a little on my own. I found a store that had most of the stuff I needed. Once I was done there, Fang called Ella's cell and told me in needed some sort of gizmo or another so I meant him somewhere in this maze and we found all the whats- its I "need." And lastly there is no way in the Underworld that you are setting me up on some date with some guy you barely know and that I never meant. Is that clear?"

**Please don't kill me **

**I got writer's block and end-of-the-school-year stuff was going on**

**So it only half my fault**

**I was going to make it longer but cut it short so you could have an update**

**Again very sorry please don't kill me**

**Thank you everyone that reviewed :D**

**R&R?**

**Please?**


	17. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**Max's POV**

By the time we had gotten food from the crowded stands and eaten it was around two-ish. Dr. M thought we should head back so I could see my room and get some things put up before Clair came over. We all walked out into the parking lot and started loading shopping bag after shopping bag into the trunk. The girls had gone a little over board and had even bought stuff for me even though they didn't even know what size I was.

"Alright" I said after the umpteenth bag "why aren't you yelling at them and how have you three not bought up half the mall?" I asked Dr. M and the girls with confusion plainly showing in my voice. Dr. M smiled at me while the girls just hopped into the car to leave.

"Ella's father divorced me when the girls were just three years old. I guess he feels guilty about that and that he never sees them. So he pays for whatever the girls want because of it and his job makes him very wealthy so it all sort of works out in the end I suppose." I could tell she didn't like the guy any more or that he never came see his own kid. I smiled at her and said in reply "Sorry." She smiled back at me with a hint of sadness and told me "It's not your fault, hun. Now get in the car so you can see your new room."

I grinned at her, went around the car, opened the door, and plopped down next to Fang in the back. We were in the car for about 2 minutes when I remembered something. I looked over at Fang and said "We forgot." He looked over at me and gave me a confused expression. "We forgot." I repeated "We forgot to give these back to each other." I said gesturing to my necklace and his. He seemed to be thinking for a moment then his hand went to his throat. He looked back over at me and said "Yeah I guess we did."

We grinned at each other then Nudge said from the front of us "What are you two talking about?" I looked over to find that she had twisted around in her seat to look at us with confusion plain in her face. "Our necklaces. Did Fang tell you that story?" She nodded and then asked something that hadn't ever occurred me "Why would you want to switch them back? I mean this way it's like you have a piece of each other. It's like a reminder that'll last forever."

I looked at her like she had just spoken a foreign language then looked over at Fang. He was giving her the same look but his had a little bit of thoughtfulness mixed in there too. "I think that's really cool! You should go with Nudge's idea." said Angel from the other window seat in the middle row. (By the way Dr. M has a three row car. The front with the driving and passenger seats. The middle with a row of three seats and the back which is the same as the middle. Just thought that would be helpful info.)

I looked over at her then back at Fang. He was already looking at me and he asked "What do you think?" I thought about it for a minute and felt a smile slowly crawling over my face until it was a grin. I looked back over at Fang and said "Yeah I think that's pretty cool." The girls cheered and Fang smiled back. While Nudge and Angel were, for some reason, filling in Dr. M on this I leaned over and asked Fang quietly enough so the girls wouldn't hear "Do they always squeal that loud?" He half smiled and said in reply "You haven't heard their highest screech yet."

I dropped my head in my hands and muttered "Oh lord."

When we got back to the house the girls showed me my room. It had two doors. One to the bathroom (I got my own) and one to the closet. Plus a window. It also had white walls, white bed, white doors, white everything. Well almost everything. The floor was wood or it looked like wood.

Anyway.

After looking at the room for a while I looked back at Ella, Nudge, Angel, and Fang and asked them "What's up with all the white?" "It's, well, it _was_ a guest bedroom but now it's yours since we figured you wouldn't want to share a room with one of us." she said gesturing to Nudge and herself.

I smiled a little and said "Thanks, but I wouldn't have minded. Although I would like to paint the walls, doors, and, possible, the bed frame. You think Dr. M would let me do that?" Ella nodded then said "Nudge, come help me get the clothes we bought for Max from the bags." Nudge smiled then said in a slightly evil sounding voice "Yeah then we come back and make her try all of them on."

Before I could get a word out the girls were already out the door and down the hall, giggling like there was no tomorrow. I sighed then look at Fang who was the only one left standing in the doorway. "Come on" I told him turning to the closet (I think) "you can help me find a place to hide from the girls." He chuckled a little and I looked over at him. He was looking at the window as he said in reply "I think I have a good I idea of where you can hide."

I gave him a confused look then looked over at the window…and straight into his room. Our rooms were right next to each other and since the houses were close I could easily climb out my window and in to his room if the window wasn't locked and vice versa. I looked back over at him and ginned like a mad woman. He chuckled a little at the look on my face and shook his head slightly.

"I say I throw this bag into my closet and then we climb into your room, close the curtain and-" Fang cut me off by saying "you tell me what you've been doing the last few years of your life." I glared at him while he was talking because he had cut me off then a thought of realization dawned on me. "I never told you because we kept getting interrupted." He smirked at me and nodded. I nodded back and said "Ok you go to your room; I'll throw this in the closet and meet you there." He nodded again and went over to the window.

While he was doing that I talked to myself inside my head while I did what I said I would. It went like this: _Why hadn't I told Fang what happened to me over the years. I mean yes we had been interrupted but I should have remember this._

I started thinking about my past what had happened, what people I had encountered, all where the weird places I had ended up living in. It wasn't like Clair hadn't tried to place me in good homes but I am literally the first kid she has ever been assigned. She wasn't the best at what she did but she was just starting out so she couldn't spot everything a person who had been doing it for a while could. I didn't blame her.

These thoughts brought memories of the bad homes to the for-front of my brain and from there to the guy in the ally. I shuddered. Then I had a thought. I had never told Fang about my parents. I had never even thought to. I shook myself out of my thoughts. _I can tell him now_ I thought to myself.

I clambered through my window then through Fang's. "So you gonna tell me?" I looked over at him and said in reply "If you think you're up for it." He nodded. We walked over to his bed and sat on either end, me at the head and him at foot. I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. Then I began.

**( A/N: I thought it would interesting to have Max explain her past and listen in on Fangs thought at the same time. If you don't agree…sorry?) **

**Fang's POV**

Max looked into my eyes and started talking. "The day you left the orphanage was the day I quit talking. A few days later Clair came to bring me to a foster home. Kate was worried out of her mind and asked Clair to keep an eye on me.

Well it turns out I was Clair's first assignment and she probably should have had a little more training. It wasn't that she was mean but she had trouble finding homes that were good. I did get into some good ones though, at least what I consider good.

Anyway.

Some of them were abusive, some forgot that I existed, and some actually tried. I was at a house that didn't really care about me. It was the last day of school and I was walking home. All of a sudden someone came from behind me and put a cloth over my mouth."

She closed her eyes and shuddered. When she opened them again she didn't look at me and she seemed to be…somewhere else. She wasn't seeing what was in front of her she was she was seeing her memory. She was reliving it.

"When I woke up I was in a small room chained to the floor. There was a guy who came in and would beat me up. I tried to fight him but he was on something so he didn't feel my punches.

One day he came in but I could tell he felt it when I hit him. We fought. I won. I got out the room and locked him in there on my way out. Once I found the phone I called 911 and that was the first time I had talked to anyone in a really long time." She smiled a little but I could tell she was on the verge of crying. "Figures they would think it was a prank. I didn't think they were going to send anyone but they did."

She looked up and caught my gaze again. "They sent your dad." She smiled at this and I smirked back. "While convincing me to talk to him he told me about the café. After I accidentally put him in a wrist lock" I shook my head a little at this. How do you _accidentally_ put someone in a _wrist lock_? "I ran and found it. I got in through the back and eventually ran into you."

She took another deep breath and ended her monolog saying "So now you know what I've been up to." I looked at her and I could tell she wanted to say something else. I could also tell it would hurt her to talk about it. I just didn't know what 'it' was.

"What else do you what to say?" my mouth asked her without checking in with my brain first. Instead of getting anger or defensive like I thought she would a tired smile curled around her lips as she said "You know me way to well." I shrugged in reply and asked "So are you going to tell me?"

She opened her mouth like she was going to start tell me. Then her mouth closed, her eyes widen in what in fear, and she seemed to shrink in on herself. Like she was trying to make herself smaller so she could hide from her thoughts or something. I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok if you don't want to tell me, Max." She looked back up at me then did something I didn't expect her to do. She crawled over to sit next to me on the bed then hugged me.

At first I didn't move but I could tell if I didn't do something she would start crying or yelling or something in between. So I hugged her back. Once I had my arms around her she tightened her arms a little more and I knew I had done the right thing.

After a few minutes of just sitting there she moved to let go and loosened her grip I let her go but a part of me didn't really want to. I ignored it and focused on Max. I put my hands on her shoulders and, looked her in the eyes and asked her "Are you going to be ok?" She smiled and asked in reply "How many times have you asked me that today?" I smirked knowing if she could be difficult she would be fine. That was Max for ya.

"I was reliving something that freaked me out. Thanks for the hug." I smiled at her and said "What are friends for?" She laughed at that and I glanced over at the clock and saw that it had been long than I had thought. A lot longer. It was now four o clock.

"Max." I said. She gave me a questioning look and I nodded toward the clock. She saw it and blinked. Then she looked back at me and said "I think the girls are looking for me." I grinned at her and she grinned back. "Let's get back before they call my dad." She smirked at that and nodded. Then we went through the window.

Once we were back in her room she told me to wait while she put stuff away and said that if the girls came in act like we were here the whole time. I sat on the bed and watched her walked around the room unpacking things from bags the girls had left and from the one of things she had gotten herself. I heard footsteps on the stairs and smiled inwardly.

This should be interesting…

**Max's POV**

I heard the footsteps before the door opened. When it did Nudge, Ella, Angel, and Dr. M all came in the girls looked back and forth between me and Fang. Then Dr. M looked at the girls and asked them "Why did you three bring me up here again?" The girls just kept looking back and forth between us until Nudge said "W-why are you two here? You weren't here like five minutes ago and now you're here! How'd you two do that?"

Her voice had gotten progressively higher pitched and by the end it was more screech than words. When she was done I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. After a few seconds I said with my eyes still closed "How can your voice go that high. It's not humanly possible and yet you can do it."I opened my eyes, looked over at Fang, and asked him "Please tell me that is the highest her voice can go."

He looked over a Nudge with a thoughtful look then shook his head looking back over at me. "No, not quite." I sighed and let my head hang. Everyone there laughed and I allowed myself a small smile. Then Dr. M said "Alright, I'll let you guys have fun just remember in about an hour Clair is supposed to come ok?" We all nodded and had various replies of 'yeah.' She left and the girls all looked over at me.

Then they ginned like the little gremlins they were and I knew exactly what they were thinking. I looked over at Fang and pleaded with him silently. He held up his hands as if to say '_I'm not getting involved in this_'. I glared at him a little then looked over at the girls. They had closed the door by now, Nudge and Ella were guarding it while Angel walked up to me and asked in a very, well, angelic voice "Please Max." She gave me this look that I just couldn't say no to. I sighed and said "I'll try on the clothes" insert high pitched squeals here "but that is all I'm doing!" I yelled over the screech.

The three of them looked at each other then nodded "You got a deal." said Nudge. I sighed and muttered under my breath "But I have absolutely no _choice_." No one but Fang heard me and I heard him snicker so I threw him a glare. The girls were walking toward me and Fang was walking toward the door. I glared at him and 'told' him '_you abandon me now I will kill you and I will give you no mercy_'. He gave me an apologetic smile then slipped out the room.

He was so dead.

About an hour later I escaped the clutches of Nudge, Ella, and Angel. Of course to escape their clutches I locked them in my room with a chair propped between the door and the hall and they were now screaming from the other side for me to let them out. Like that was going to happen. Another good thing was they had thrown all the clothes they didn't like (aka all the clothes I had gotten by myself) into the hall. So now they couldn't ruin them by way of getting back at me.

I picked up all the clothes and threw them in a plastic bag they had also thrown out, then went down stairs to see if anyone was there to hang out with or kill (cough cough FANG cough). I found Fang watching TV while lying down on the couch.

This was going to be fun.

I crouched down on the floor and slowly advanced upon the couch, coming from behind. Once I got to there I positioned myself then jumped up and over the back of it and onto a shocked Fang. He saw me in mid leap but couldn't move in time to avoid getting landed on. I landed with my hands on his chest and my feet on either side of his stomach, sinking into the cushions.

There was a loud, satisfying _oof _then "What the heck was that for?" I looked him in the eye with an evil grin on my face and said "For leaving me with the girls." He glared at me then he grinned an evil grin of his own that, I admit, scared the heck out of me. Before I could get a word out he started tickling me. I let out a shriek tried to fight back but it was no use.

He had me pinned to him in what I suppose you could call a hug and was now muffling my shrieks with his chest. I wiggled as much as I could and, since Fang wasn't really ticklish, I poked him on either side of his hips. He let go quick and I ended up on the floor. Unfortunately, Fang had tried to catch me and ended up half falling on top me. I say half because he only his legs got tangled into mine while he caught his upper half with his arms. We stayed like that for a bit, both of us to frozen by surprise to move.

Then Fang rolled over and flopped onto the ground next to me just as Dr. M, Iggy, Nudge, Ella, Gazzy, Angel, and Clair burst into the living room from different directions. Thinking something was wrong, Fang and I leapt up and off the ground and into fighting stances. Everyone started asking questions and talking at the same time except me and Fang who just stared at the others in surprise.

After about a minute of that I was fed up with not knowing what was up and yelled in a commanding voice over everyone "Hey! Everyone, be quiet!" Everyone shut up immediately and gave me looks of various levels of surprise.

Before everyone started talking again I looked over at Iggy and said "Alright, why are you here?" He was too stunned to make any jokes so he just answered "Gazzy and I were in the back yard. We heard a shriek and came to see what was wrong." I nodded. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"Nudge." She gave me a simple story thank God. "We were in your room" she said while she gestured to the rest of the girls I had locked I my room "when Dr. M opened the door thinking one of us had yelled. When we said we hadn't we came down here."

I turned to Clair, knowing there wasn't a lot of time before people started asking questions. "Clair, how'd you even get in the house?" She, for some reason, looked even more shocked than the others but she still answered my question. "I knocked on the door. After a few moments there was a scream. I grabbed the door knob and since the door was unlocked I just came in."

I looked over at Fang and we shared a glance. Then I looked back at everyone else and told them "Well, I was the one who shrieked. Sorry you guys." I smiled apologetically at everyone. After a moment of silence Iggy asked "Why did you shriek?" I looked over at Fang and glared. I continued glaring at him while I answered Iggy's question saying "Fang was tickling me." "Why was he tickling you?" I looked back at Iggy and said "Because I jumped on him." Now everyone but Clair and Fang asked in unison "Why did you jump on him?" I smiled and knew Fang was smirking. "Because he/I left me/her with the girls."

Everyone sighed and shook their heads at us. Then Clair said "I can't believe your actually talking!" I smiled at her and said "That's a long story."

After telling Clair the whole story from when I got kidnapped to going to the mall (guess which one I thought was worse). She looked over at Dr. M, smiling, and said "You can adopt her." There was a lot of cheering and Fang pulled me into a hug which was weird for him but I wasn't complaining.

After that she said she had to go so I walked with her to her car to get my bag from her car. After getting my bag we hugged and I waved her off. Once her car was out of sight I turned and saw that everyone was out on the porch. I smiled at them and they all came down and I started getting hugged even more. First Dr. M then the little ones then Nudge, Ella, and Iggy. Fang had already hugged me so he just put his arm around my shoulders for a moment then let go.

It was now six thirty so everyone but me and Fang started making dinner while we set the table. John and Alice (as I was told to call them later) came over right as the food finished so we all sat at the table and ate and talked and laughed and had an all around good time. After we were done with dinner we went into the living room and continued talking there. By the time Fang and his family left it was eight thirty and Nugde, Ella, and Dr. M seemed wiped. I wasn't as tired but I figured I would past out in my clothes if I went lay on my bed now.

I went in the bathroom and took a shower and change into a tank top and warm up pants. When I came out I started put clothes out on the bed so I could put them away. After I was done with that I noticed a flashing light coming from the window. I went over to it and pushed it aside to reveal Fang with a flash light in his room. I opened the window and he opened his.

"Had fun tonight?" I smiled and said "More than I've had in a long time." He smiled back and asked "You tired?" I replied "No." then yawned. I blinked a few times then looked back over at Fang who was smiling and shaking his head at me. I rolled my eyes at him. "See you tomorrow?" he asked. I nodded and said "Come wake me up whenever just don't be surprised if I hit you because it's early." He laughed and I smiled at him.

"Good night, Max." he told me with that special smile on his face. I smiled back and said "Good night, Fang." I closed my window and drew the curtains. Then I crawled into bed and thought about all the things that had happened today. The last thing I remember thinking was _I think life just might be looking up for me_.


	18. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Max's POV**

*about two months later*

"Good morning, Max." I heard from behind me.

I jumped about a foot in the air, turned while still in the air, and landed facing the window ready to kick someone's but for sneaking into my room. The person who was standing in front of my open window put their hands up in a gesture of surrender and raised an eyebrow at me. I put my hands down, glared at Fang, and then told him "Would you quit that!" He smirked and replied "What?"

I gave him an exasperated sigh and turned back to my door. I locked it then went over to my bed and sat on it. "So what brings you to my room via the window?" He walked over, sat next me on the bed, and replied "Wanted to see if you were excited or nervous about the gig tonight."

I haven't mentioned this to you guys, have I? Well, after a lot of arguing and Bambi Eyes (don't ask) they convinced me to join their band. I had been to two of their gigs but I had been in the back listening and watching. They were great as long as they didn't have Bridget singing. God that girl's singing was worse than the girls' shrieking!

Since it was close to the beginning of the school year the others have decided that they should just get it over with so that it might blow over before school starts. I seriously doubted that it would but I had no problem with singing. Other than the fact that it was in front of people. That was my only problem.

Figures, huh?

I smiled a little, looked over at him, and said "Nervous." Fang was the only person I would admit something like that to but if I couldn't trust him who was I supposed to trust? He smiled a little at the look on my face and said in a confidante voice "You'll get through it. You always do. Besides I really think you're going to love performing." "How do you know?" Ok I know I said I trusted the guy but it didn't mean I had to go around blindly following whatever he said.

He gave me one of those smiles that made the sun look dull and replied "Because I know everything." I smiled and playfully pushed him. He chuckled at this and asked me "So why lock your door?" I looked over at the door and smiled again. "The girls." I said simply and he nodded his head as if I had explained everything. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about I locked my door so my two sisters and Fang's sister couldn't come in and Bambi Eye me into wearing a ton of makeup and a dress to the gig tonight. They probably wouldn't make me wear a dress but still. Better to be safe than sorry.

"So" I said turning back to Fang to find him looking at me "breakfast at your house?" He half smiled and nodded. We got off my bed and headed over to the window. "After you." Fang said holding back to curtain for me and waving at the window with his other hand. I smiled and rolled my eyes at his old fashion style in this very non-old fashion situation. I went through my window, on to my roof, hopped to gap, landed on Fang's roof, went through his window, and into his room.

Once there I waited for Fang to climb in. Then we went out his room, down the hall, down the stairs, and went to the kitchen in search of something to eat. "You eat yet?" I asked him. He shook his head no. "You the first one awake?" He nodded his head yes. It's just great to have such a wordy guy for a friend, eh? We went through the cabinets until we found something we both wanted.

Spaghettios and Coke.

After looking around for a can opener we just used our switch blades (Yes we both walk around with knives in our pockets; are you really that surprised?) to open the cans. I had a can of Coke next to me on the counter in the middle of the kitchen with a can of Spaghettios in one hand and stabbing it with the knife I had in the other. Fang was standing on the other side of the counter doing the same thing. Then John, Alice, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel came down the stairs.

I looked over and smiled at everyone and said "Morning everybody." continuing to open the can. I was done opening it at the same time as Fang so he went to the sink and cleaned the knives while I got forks from the drawer. All the while the others were staring at us like we were from another planet.

When I stuck the forks in the cans of food Gazzy and Angel just shook their heads and walked over to the table waiting for someone to make breakfast since they were too young to use the stove. Iggy shook his head but also muttered "You think they can't get any weirder then, ta-da they do something like this." I looked up at Fang from across the counter, smiled, then, as I was walking around the counter to sit at the table, I slapped Iggy in the back of the head. "Hey" he said with fake hurt in his voice "that hurt!" I grabbed my food and drink from the counter and replied "Get over it."

He turned and went back to fixing breakfast while I went over and sat next to Fang at the table. He handed me my knife as I sat down. I took it, put it in my pocket and started eating my…unconventional breakfast. Then Angel spoke up saying "Mom, Dad, why are you standing there and staring at Max and Fang?"

Alice blinked and looked at her daughter while John kept looking at us with a, now, confused look on his face. After a little while they came sit with us and breakfast went on like nothing had happened. About half way through I looked over at Fang and he smiled at me and reminded me of the beginning of breakfast. I smiled back and ask "Spaghettios good?" His smile widened and he said in reply "Yeah." I looked over everyone sitting at the table and I couldn't believe how good we had it here. I leaned on Fang and he draped his arm over my shoulder.

The only thing wrong was that I had this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't ignore. It kept warning me _things can't stay this good_. I wish I hadn't ignored it…

After breakfast Fang and I hung out in his room, hearing the girls bang on my door and his door for about an hour before they finally asked Iggy to pick the locks. Fang had some sorta gizmo on his door so he couldn't get in there and Fang and I simply held on to the door knob while the others pulled from the other side. We won. I relocked the door and by then it was seven and since the gig was at eight I decided it was time to get dressed. I shooed Fang out the window and into his room so I could get ready in peace and so he could get ready too. I locked the window, shut the blinds, turned toward the closet and started digging.

I had more clothes than I had ever had in my life so I had split my closet in half. Regular day things and dressy things. In other words stuff I had gotten and stuff the girls had gotten for me. I decided I would wear something the girls had gotten for me with some stuff I had gotten because this was somewhat of a big deal. Plus I could pick the stuff that was the least offensive to my style.

In the end I found some tie-dye skinny jeans (the girls), a splatter paint tank top (me), a plaid button-up dress shirt thing (both(long story)), and my old black converse that were quote "falling apart at the seams" (if you don't know who got that I feel sorry for you). The jeans went from black to white with any shade of blue you could think of in between. The tank top used to be black but then me and Fang got into a paint war of sorts so it was now splattered a dark purple. The plaid thing I left open and rolled the sleeves up to my elbows **(A/N: link to pic on my profile)**.

I took my hair out the messy pony tail it was in and brushed it. Since it was already pretty straight I left it like that. I looked myself up and down in the mirror before deciding I looked decent enough and went over to Fang's window. I knocked and after a few seconds I heard him say "One minute." I moved to the side of the window and sat down on the roof there.

A little while later Fang opened the window and poked his head out. He looked over at me and I saw surprise on his face. I smiled and asked "Did I scare you?" He backed out the window still looking a little dazed and I hopped in. I put my head to the side and asked "What?" he shook his head and said "That's the shirt you wore when we had the paint war." I didn't think that was what he wanted to say but I went with it and said "Yeah what was your first clue?" He smiled and said in reply "The paint." I rolled my eyes and we headed down stairs to meet the others before going back over to my house.

When we got down Iggy and Gazzy were in the kitchen talking about some sort of bomb or another. The quickly shut up as we walked in and they looked at me the same way Fang had. After a few seconds of silence I walked up to them and snapped my fingers in their faces. They blinked and back up a little. "Earth to the pyro brothers. You in there?" Iggy shook his head a little, grinned, and said "Damn Max you clean up good!" I raised an eye brow at him and said "What?"

I had no idea of what he was talking about. Of course with Iggy you rarely do unless you're Gazzy. "I mean" he said with that same goofy grin "you're going to make Bridget so jealous and she is already going to be yelling at you for taking her place in the band and she'll be even more p.o.'d because all the guys are going to want to ask you out when she's the one used to all the attention. God this going to be great!" He turned Gazzy and said "Help me find my camera. I'm putting this on YouTube."

They ran up the stairs leaving me utterly confused. I kept playing Ig's words back in my head but I couldn't figure it out. I turned to Fang and asked the very intelligent and thought out question of "What the heck?" He smirked and said "Bridget is going to mad about you taking her place and every guy there is going to ask you out according to Iggy." My eye brows came together as I said "That's not going to happen. I've never been asked out in my life. I doubt tonight is going to be any different." Fang opened his mouth just as the door opened.

I turned to see the girls in the door along with Dr. M. They all screech except Dr. M who just smiled. The girls ran up to me and started talking all at the same time. Have I mentioned they are really loud and high pitched when they're happy? Well they were extremely happy about something that I couldn't make out because they were all yelling it at the same time.

I put my hands over my ears, closed my eyes, and yelled "Quiet!" I didn't hear anything from the other side of my hands so I moved them, opened my eyes, and looked right into the eyes of the three girls. "Now" I said in a very calm voice that didn't really match up to what it was earlier "what are you guys talking about? Ella?" She was smiling so much I thought her face might split in half as she said "You look really really good Max." After she said this Angel and Nudge started screeching again.

I sighed went over to Fang and started banging my head (lightly) against his chest while muttering "Shut up, shut up, shut up." I half heard half felt Fang chuckling then I felt him wrap his arms around me. I looked up and into his eyes and gave him a questioning look and he smiled. I was surprised by these random acts because this was very non-Fang of him. Then he said "Can't I hug my best friend for no reason?" I grinned back then buried my face in his chest. It wasn't often I got a hug from Fang so I decided to make the most of it.

Then "Awww, look at the lovebirds." I looked over at Iggy and glare at him so menacingly he literally took a small step back. "Shut up Ig." I said as I turned my face back into Fang's chest. Everyone was laughing including me.

When we arrived at the café I sat back stage since everyone knew what went where and I didn't. I was reminding myself to breath and stay calm and not run like hell away when Bridget came back stage. She was kissing some guy for a good minute before she finally let go, pushed him back into the main part of the café, and turned to see that I was sitting there wishing extremely hard that I wasn't.

When she saw it was me she frowned and asked in that stuck up voice of hers "What are _you_ doing _here_? You're not in the band." I smiled and said "I'm here to support my friends." She snorted and said in reply "Yeah, right. You're just here to steal _my_ boyfriend." I sighed and I could hear the anger in my own voice. "How many times does he have to tell you to get it through your thick head that you two aren't a couple?" She gave me an appalled look that was priceless and said in accusatory tone "We've just hit a bit of a rough patch ever since _you_ got here!" She pointed at me like I was a plague carrier and stormed off and on to the stage.

Luckily I didn't have to watch her because the curtain was in the way and thank God for that. I sighed trying to calm down and started running lyrics through my head. I knew them by heart but it wouldn't do any harm to go through them one more time. About ten minutes later Fang came back stage and said in a whisper "All right, we're going to do a couple songs, have Bridget sing once, then we pull you from the crowd and have you sing while Bridget gets her mind blown away." He was smirking by the end of his plan and I was smiling.

"Sounds good. I'll watch from the crowd till it's my turn. Good luck." He nodded once in acknowledgment, turn, and walked toward the curtain. About half way there he turned around again and said in an almost embarrassed voice "You really do look good bye the way." I felt myself blush but also felt myself smiling like crazy. "Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you." Even though half his face was hidden by shadows and his bangs, I could still see him grin before he turned and made his way up on stage.

I stood there feeling things I had never felt before and utterly confusing myself trying to name then. Then I went out in the crowd to go cheer on my friends.

I liked the songs they sung before Bridget went up. They were good and they were perfect for the way everyone played. Then there was the song Bridget sung. It was, at best, horrible. You don't even want to hear my at worse for her. I'm not even sure what the song was called (she said the name but I was trying to get the tenth guy to talk to me to stop) but I'm never listening to it again. Once she was done singing Fang grabbed one of the mics and said

"Well… let's hear it for Bridget." I think he meant to be enthusiastic but it didn't really sound like that to me. Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered though. I may have been the only one who didn't. Then Fang said "So tonight we're doing something a bit different." Everyone quieted down but I could hear whispered conversation all around. Bridget tried to act like she knew what was going on but was failing miserably. "Tonight we have a friend of mine who thought she couldn't sing until we convinced her she could." The people laughed a little and more conversation started going. "Everyone please help me give a big welcome to Max!"

People cheered and clapped as Fang bent down and gave me a hand up onto the stage. Once up I turned and looked around at the people in the crowd. I smiled and Fang handed me the mic. "Thanks for the intro Fang." I told him. He nodded then I looked back to the crowd and asked "Now who wants to hear some music?" They all screamed and hollered and I just smiled more.

I looked over at Fang who had a smirk on his face and a question in his eyes. I could practically hear him asking me '_Are you going to start singing or what?_' I rolled my eyes at him but nodded for him to start the music. He started playing the acoustic then Iggy came in on the eclectic and everything just came together after that.

_They kicked me out of the parade  
I guess I had too much to say  
Couldn't bend to fit myself inside the lines  
And I have wasted all this time just trying  
Those pretty boys and pretty girls  
Live in their pretty plastic world  
They're so convinced that everything is black and white  
That we are wrong and they are right  
They always told us not to fight  
Kept us grounded when we should be flying_

Don't be afraid to fall  
You know the ground is never too far from the sky  
And they can have their walls  
The universe has bigger plans for you and I  
So baby hold up your head,  
Don't ever let 'em see you cry

I know you're caught up in the show  
And it's so hard to let it go  
To lose the mask you always hid yourself behind  
To live a life of your design  
To say what's really on your mind  
To come out of the dark and shine

Don't be afraid to fall  
You know the ground is never too far from the sky  
And they can have their walls  
The universe has bigger plans for you and I  
So baby hold up your head,  
Don't ever let 'em see you cry

If you could only see that  
There is so much more to life than this  
That everything you are is beautiful  
You are everything there is

Don't be afraid to fall  
You know the ground is never too far from the sky  
And we don't need their walls  
The universe has bigger plans for you and I  
So baby hold up your head  
Don't ever let 'em see you cry

_So baby hold up your head (3x)  
Don't ever let 'em see you cry_

As the music came to a stop I took a deep breath, trying (and failing) not to get too caught up in the rush of it. Then the crowed started to scream. God it was even louder than the times before! I looked over at Fang who was looking out at the crowd. He felt me staring and looked over at me with a huge smile on his face. I smiled back and said into the mic "Thanks." I walked over to Fang and gave him the mic because I didn't know what was going to happen next.

He took it and went to the front of the stage. "Alright, everyone, sounds like you liked her." Queue more loud screaming. "Good, because we hope to have her back in the future." He looked back over at me with a cocky smile on his face. "That is if she'll come and sing again." The crowd started chanting something I didn't even bother deciphering. I walked over to center stage and stood next to Fang. He handed me the mic and I said looking at him but speaking to the people "Of course I'll come back. Then I can annoy Fang on and off stage."

Fang gave me a fake skeptical look and said just loud enough for the mic to pick up "On second thought…" Everyone there laughed. Including me. Then Iggy came between us and gave each of us a fake chiding look. I looked back with my all too innocent face while Fang just rolled my eyes. The crowed was eating this up and the noise level just got higher. Iggy grabbed the mic from me and said "Well that's all for tonight, folks! See most of you at school! Whenever that is!" He beamed at the audience while they laughed and the curtain closed over the stage in front of us.

"Had fun?" Fang asked from beside me a minute later when everyone else had gone to do whatever while I was still a little dazed over the whole thing. "Yeah." I said in reply but that word didn't even begin to cover it. As if reading my mind Fang chuckled, the he bent down and whispered in my ear "Happy birthday."

I stared blankly at him for a moment then said the first thing that came to my mind. "Wha?" I asked (so not the most intelligent thing to say but still, it got my point across). He smiled and said "It's your birthday, yours is a week before mine and-" I shook my head and said in a slightly confused voice "And yours is Friday and today is Friday so…oh…wait a minute." I was trying to think when Fang started laughing.

I half heartedly glared at him and said in a half questioning and half defensive voice "What?" This just made him laugh more which made me smile a little. I mean, sure, he was making fun of me but it wasn't like he did this all the time and it wasn't like I didn't make fun of him a lot more. After a bit I nudged him with my elbow and walked over to the counter to get some hot chocolate.

I was half way there when he caught up with me and said "Aww, come on, Max, don't be mad."I half smiled but didn't let him see. "I didn't tell the others and I got you a present." I let out a truly annoyed sigh and said like I had a thousand times "You _really_ didn't have to get me something." Then he responded with the same response he had used a thousand times "I _wanted_ to get you something." I rolled my eyes.

I never could win this argument.

For all the times I had had a birthday and he was there he had gotten me something or made something or found something. I really hated getting presents and I think I must have had this argument with him half a million times before. I never did win.

I got my hot chocolate then Fang half dragged me back stage to give me his present. (Which reminded me; what the heck was I going to get him?) Once we got there he grabbed a bag out the corner of the room and opened it. Inside was a box wrapped in plan black wrapping paper with a dark purple ribbon wrapped around it. I looked at it questioningly and he handed it to me.

I opened it and found that it had shoes in it. They were converse, exactly like mine except for few things. 1) They were new (mine had duct tape holding the sole to the rest of it) and 2) it had a wing stitched in white string onto the outside of each shoe. "Fang" I barely whispered a smile growing on my face. "I wasn't sure what to get you and when you were fixing your shoes with duct tape last week I figured it would be a good present. Mom put the wings on and helped me wrap the present since I'm not too good with that stuff." My smile grew into a grin as I looked up at Fang.

He seemed like he was waiting for me to say something so I did. "Thanks" I told him and he smiled "I think I'm actually glad you got me a birthday present for once." He chuckled and I hugged him. And he hugged me back. Without tensing up first. This made me smile even more even though no one else could see me.

Then, since this is my life, things _had_ to downhill from there.

We were heading back to home while the others told us how Bridget reacted to their announcement. Apparently a lot of people asked if Fang and I were going out. Then the girls got this look on their faces and started whispering in their seats which were right next to each other.

Perfect.

Iggy started to taunt us but we whacked him behind the head at the same time and he shut up. Well, for now at least. By the time we got out the car we were all tired, especially Gazzy who wasn't used to staying up this late although it was only 10:00-ish. Ella, Nudge, and I went to our rooms and they threatened to dress me up for my fist day of school but I couldn't have cared less at the moment.

I just wanted a shower. I went into my room, grabbed some sweat pants and a t shirt, and then hopped into the shower. I thought about that day and it made me laugh all over again. Now, this is random, but you may be wondering about my shoes. Well, Fang had brought the bag with him plus it was his so no one was suspicious of him bringing it in. At some point he was supposed to drop it in through the window of my room.

I took a deep breath and, hesitantly, got out the shower. I really didn't want to get out but if I didn't turn off the water now the girls would throw a fit because then there wouldn't be enough for them. I threw my clothes on and walked out the bathroom drying my hair with a towel. I looked over at my window and saw that Fang had put the shoes there. I turned to my bed and saw that he had also gotten in himself and was now sitting on my bed looking through my iPod.

I sighed quietly and said in a low voice because everyone else was bound to be sleeping by now "I don't see why you're looking through it. You're the one who put all those songs on there anyway." He looked up and half smiled at me then went back to fiddling with it. I sighed and went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed. Once done I went back to my bed and sat by Fang. "So not mad at me for giving you a gift?" I smiled and shook my head no. He smiled back and nodded as if to say _Good_.

I rolled my eyes at his wordless response I understood so well and lay back on the bed. Fang lay down next to me and we started talking. Just talking. It was about pretty ordinary and random stuff but it was nice. It was like the good ol' days back when we were young. After what felt like a few minutes but was really a few hours Fang said he had to go and slipped out through the window and into his room.

A part of me didn't want him to go but I ignored it and shut it up by think/ telling it _I'll see him in the morning. He always comes wake me up anyway. _I curled up in my bed and went to sleep and thought that would be the end of my night. Boy was I off…

After a particularly bad dream I woke up sitting up as straight as if I had a pole for a spine and panting as if I had just run a mile or something. I ran a hand through my hair and tried to get my heart to stop beating at 90 miles an hour so I could hear something other than it. After about a minute I could hear something other than my heartbeat and I really didn't like what I heard.

Someone was walking on my roof and it wasn't the quiet footsteps of Fang.

I grabbed my knife from my nightstand and ducted back under the covers. I listened as someone opened the window, walked across the room, and was standing right next to my bed. I heard them take a breath that I wouldn't have heard if I was asleep, opened my switchblade, turned, and struck. They must have hear me open my knife or something because they blocked my strike and sent my knife fly out my hand and across the room to embed itself in the wall next to my window.

I moved quickly. Getting up off my bed to get around him, going for the open window. I got out on the roof when he hit me with something in the back of the head. I fell, and since it was pouring out here, nearly went off the roof when he reach out and grabbed my ankle. My vision was blurry, I couldn't control my body, and my head was a little fuzzy. He hoisted me back up onto the roof and fished around in his pocket. Then he pulled out a syringe and my brain started working at the speed of light. I kicked out and that off balanced him. He slipped on the wet shingles and started to go over the edge when he grabbed a rope he must have used to get up here with.

He hoisted himself back up but by then I had jumped from my roof to Fang's. I was trying to get to his window like I had done a million times before (just never in this much freeze cold rain!) when he grabbed me by my ankle and pulled. I turned onto my back just as his hand came down on my shoulder, the needle with it. I shouted in pain and surprise then wacked his hand away. He hadn't had enough time to push down on top thing and put the drug in me but the needle stayed in my shoulder and let me tell you that_ did not_ feel good. I cried out again but this time it was softer. Then I saw a black blur skid into my attacker knocking him back so hard he landed on my roof. But all of this noise was covered by the sounds of a very explosive thunderstorm that I was getting soaked in.

Just my luck right?

The first thing I thought the blur was: another attacker. (Because that's just the kind of thing that would happen in my life don't you think?) Then the black shape turned toward me and I saw his face in the flash of lightning. It was Fang and he looked like he was liking the rain about as much as I was at the moment.

His hair was slicked down and half covered his face. There was a scratch along his jaw that was bleeding but he hadn't seemed to notice it quiet yet. He was too busy looking at me with concern and questions showing in his eyes. I looked back over at my roof and saw that my attacker had shimmied off my roof and onto the ground. I was close enough to the edge to see him limp across the yard and into a car with no plates that was soon going down the road like any other car on the road.

God this changed_ everything_!

**A/N : hey everyone srry it took so long but I do have a life I have to live through here.**

**The next ch. should start out in/ have Fang's POV in it.**

**Thought you might like to know.**

**Review and tell me what you think :D**


	19. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Fang's POV**

I watched Max turn her head to see the man I'd knocked to her roof limp across the yard and duck into a car; driving away like nothing had happened. After he left I looked back over at her and she was looking at me. I moved to help her up but she waved me of as she sat up. She got to her feet but stumbled as she tried to walk. I steadied her and ended up just helping her through the window.

Once we were in she leaned against the wall so I could close the window. Once that was done I looked back over at her. She was already looking at me and said in a voice that sound half there "Thanks. Must have hit me harder than I thought." This just made me worry even more. I draped one of her arms over my shoulders and I put one my arms around her waist. She swayed but I made sure she didn't fall.

I looked over at her to make sure she was ok. She looked back and I swear her face was inches from mine. "Thanks." she said with a ghost of a smile flickering across her lips "I don't know what I'd do without you." This was a little awkward. I just looked away and took her into the bathroom that was connected to mine. Once there I her sat down on the edge of the tub, crouched down so that I was eye to eye with her and asked with my hands on her shoulders so she wouldn't fall. "Max, are you hurt?"

She blinked at me. Then blinked again. Finally she shook her head roughly, looked back at me with wide eyes, and tensed up ready for a fight. She made a move to get up but I made sure she stayed sitting. "Have to go. Have to fight." She kept repeating this over and over again. Trying to wiggle out of my grip wincing every once in a while. "Ssshhh." I said in a calming voice "It's gonna be ok. The guy isn't going to hurt you. Not while I'm alive." She finally stopped struggling and looked up at me.

She searched my eyes for something although I'm not exactly sure what for. I think she found it because the next thing I knew her shoulders sagged and she launched her soaked form into me. She had her arms wrapped tightly around my neck and was kneeling on the floor like I was. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her. After a minute I heard her sniffling and letting out little gasps now and then.

Then it clicked.

She was crying.

I put one of my hands on the back of her head and she wedged her head into my neck starting to cry harder. I whispered comforting words and held her like that till my knees went numb. Once she was finally done crying she pulled away a little. I moved so I could see her face but still kept her close. Her eyes were closed and she had moved her hands till they were on either side of my chest. She took a long deep breath then let it out. She opened her eyes then lifted her head, meeting my gaze head on. She finally seemed like she was ok. At least she seemed like she was all there and not just kind of floating around so to speak.

"Are you ok?" I asked her again. She smiled a tried smile and said in reply "I haven't been ok for years and trust me being attacked in the middle of the night does nothing for ones mental status." I smirked a little. She was definitely going to live. Although 'ok' might be too strong of a word right now.

She took another deep breath and said in an equally tried voice "Remember when I was getting you caught up on my life and I couldn't tell you something?" I gave her a questioning look but nodded in reply. "Well it looks like I'm going to have to tell you now. The bag seems to be extremely devoid of cats right now so how could I not?"

**(A/N: If someone can guess what TV show I got that from put it in a review and I'll mention you in the next A/N if you want :D)**

**Max's POV**

I took another deep breath because I just couldn't get enough oxygen. I was about to start telling Fang about it when he said "Wait."

I looked at him and blinked. I really wasn't expecting that.

"I was just going to say, shouldn't we get of my bathroom floor and maybe get you a change of clothes. You're soaked, freezing, and shaking like a leaf. Some hot chocolate might be in order too." I was still looking blankly at him by the end of his talking. He gave me a confused look then waved one of his hands in front of my face. "Hello? Anybody in there?"

I blinked a few times, backed up slightly, and nearly fell out of Fang's arms. He tightened his grip and laughed a little at my clumsiness. I rolled my eyes and said "I better go get some dry clothes." I moved to stand up but before I could Fang stood up and said "I'll do that." Before I could protest he was already out the door.

I rolled my eyes at nothing and sat down on my but to get some blood back to my knees. I did a quick systems check and figured out I was going to be very sore in the morning. Other than that and the needle in my shoulder I would be fine. Well there was the question of my sanity but, well, that was never really there so…yeah. That therapist is going to have me checked into a mental institution after she meets me.

I was having thoughts of padded rooms and straight jakes when Fang walked back into the bathroom. "Here" he said handing me a slightly drenched bag. I took it and he left. I got up and changed out of clothes and into the ones Fang had thoughtful transported in a bag. Once I had a little more warmth in me I grabbed a towel a dried my hair. I left the towel there and went into Fang's room.

Just as I came in thunder literally shook the windows and made me jump about two feet into the air. I was in a fighting stance looking at the window like it was going to attack me at any minute when Fang came in. I turned and was still in a fighting stance until I figured out it was Fang. I shook my head and leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door and his night stand with my arms wrapped around me.

_Calm down_ I told myself _he's gone…for now_. I was shaking by the time Fang walked from his door to me. I had my eyes closed tightly against the tears so I didn't see what he put down but I heard something hit the top of the night stand. Then I felt hands on my shoulders.

"Max?" said Fang. I opened my eyes and looked into his black ones. He looked worried but also determined. I was confused as to why until he said "I will never let him touch you again. I promise. And if he ever does I will do whatever you tell me to. Even if you tell me to drop dead, I swear, I'll do it." I could tell he wasn't joking and I knew he would follow through with his promise as much as he could. This made me feel a whole lot better.

I let out a breath I hadn't been aware I was holding and let my shoulders sag. "So" said Fang picking two cups up from the night stand and handing one to me "how about that story?" I took the cup and nodded. The cup was warm, I sipped at the liquid and figured out it was hot chocolate with marshmallows. Just the way I liked it. I looked back at Fang and smiled my thanks. He nodded as if to say _you're welcome_, walked over to his bed, and sat down, patting the spot next to him for me to sit.

I did and said "Alright to explain what happened tonight I'm going to have to tell you what happened to my parents. You still want to hear?" I looked over at him and thought all I was going to get was a nod but he surprised me by saying "Of course I want to know." I gave him a slightly confused look but shrugged it off and looked across the room and out his window.

Then I told him the story of the night my parents died.

As I told him I relived it and I nearly cried when I heard the gunshots echo through my head and saw my parents fall to the floor with blood pooling around them. Fang could tell and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I drew strength from the knowledge that he was there and that he would protect me and went on with the story.

Once I was done I looked back over at Fang. I could see it in his eyes that he was processing everything all at once and trying to connect what had happened to what happened tonight. "So" Fang asked me, sound deep in thought "how does that link up to what happened to you tonight?" I looked at him and could see he really wanted to know and really wanted to help. "Remember how I said there were three men?" he nodded. I looked down at the ground and my feet hanging of the side of the bed.

"Well the police didn't get all of them. Two were shot and ended up dying, the other one got away. He found me when I was in foster care around the middle of sophomore year. He was standing on the other side of the street to the bus stop I was at, at the time, and I thought he looked familiar. I kept watching him as he picked his hand made a gun with and fake shot me. Since then he's been trying to kill me. Mostly he just attacks me like he did tonight but sometimes he'll get someone else to do it. I think he wants me alive though. Every time he comes he doesn't just shoot me he tries to take me. I think that guy who kidnapped me was hired by him to do that. I don't know why he wants me alive I just know that he does."

I leaned against Fang and he brought his other arm to draw me into a hug. "In summary life has been hell till about two months ago." I felt more than heard Fang chuckle from beside me. I brought my arms around his stomach and looked up at his face. "I'm glad your back." I said and realized I had a small smile on my face. I saw Fang's half smile creep across his face as he said "I'm glad I'm back, too." We stayed like that for a long time just staring at each other until there was a loud crack of thunder that surprised both of us.

We jumped and I jarred my hurt shoulder that I had forgotten was hurt. "Ow." I muttered. Fang somehow heard me and gave me a questioning look. I made a come here motion with my hand and walked off into the bathroom. I heard Fang's hesitant footsteps from behind me. Once inside I turn to face Fang and told him "I need gauze, tweezers, rubbing alcohol, one of those brown, stretchy bandages, and your assistance."

He raised an eye brow at me and asked the simple and to the point question of "Why?" I smirked but it had no humor in it, "Because that idiot stabbed me with a syringe in the shoulder and now I have to get the needle out." Fang shook his and I heard him mutter while he got the stuff we would need out "Only Max could forget she got hurt. Only Max."

After much cursing under my breath on my part the needle was out and I was bandaged up. I cleaned the cut on Fang's face because I had noticed it was there and I had accidently hit it while he was getting the needle out. Once we were done I thought I was going to go back to my house but Fang insisted that I stay at his. I guess he could tell that I was still really shook up about what had happened.

After a lot of arguing, Fang (being the stubborn pain he is) slept on the floor and I (being the push-over I am) slept in the bed. About a half hour later Fang woke me up and I was, for the second time that night, sitting up as straight as if I had a pole for a spine and panting as if I had just run a mile. I looked over at Fang and asked "W-what happened? I-is he back?" Fang shook his head and looked worried "No, no one is here. You were crying in your sleep. I didn't know if you were ok. Are you ok?" I took a few deep breaths calming down a bit. "Probably not but I'll be fine." I told him answering his question. He shook his head at me again and started walking back to his spot on the floor.

Then I did something I didn't expect to do.

My hand shot out and grabbed Fang's, stopping him and causing him to turn around. He looked down at my hand in his then into my eyes. "Um… you're probably going to think I've gone insane… which I probably have…but… would you come sleep next to me?" I said the last part in a rush and looked down at the floor. I didn't let go of his hand though. I just couldn't make my fingers uncurl.

Then Fang did something I really hadn't expected.

He walked over to the bed and sat down. I looked over at him with a confused look on my face. "Well, are you going to move over?" he asked casually but I could tell he was about as hesitant as I was. I could also tell he wasn't doing this because he _had _to; he was doing this because he wanted to help me. I moved over and he got in. I moved all the way to the other side because I figured he wouldn't want to be that close.

After a little while I heard Fang move then I felt his arm around my waist. I felt him pull me slightly toward him and, as if I wasn't really in control, I moved over till I was right next to him. He had his arm around my waist and I had my hand and my head on his chest. "I hope you don't mind that I just did that." I heard him say after a few seconds. "Actually I don't. And… thanks… for everything." I could practically hear the smile in his voice as he said "It's no problem Max, no problem at all."

**Fang POV**

I woke up that morning wondering why I had something heavier than bed covers on me. I opened my eyes and realized it was Max.

At first I was confused about this then I remember what had happened last night. I resisted the urge to move or sigh or anything like that. It would most likely cause Max to wake up, freak out, and cause something to fall (herself), then everyone would be in my room wonder what Max was doing here. That would not be good.

Instead I looked up and stared at the ceiling replaying last night's events in my head. The storm, the fight, the gallons of water falling all around us. Max being half there, Max nearly attacking me when I came with hot chocolate. My promise to her. What had happened to her parents. When she had woken up and asked me to sleep next to her, and me pulling her over to sleep nearly on top of me. I couldn't believe all of that had happened just last night but I had proof that it had. I had Max, asleep, on top of me. Plus the scratch on my face but I like Max's proof better. I watched her as she slept. She looked a lot more peaceful now than she had lasted night and since I hadn't gotten beaten up in my sleep, I guess she slept alright after I had woke her up.

I still couldn't believe this was the same girl from eight years ago that I knew when I was seven. Although she had been through a lot since we had last seen each other she looked amazing. I mean it like Iggy had said! Except in a less demeaning way. Yeah. You believe me completely now, don't you? Yeah, I thought so.

Anyway.

After watching her for a while she started to move. I was getting ready to keep her from jumping into the wall or over me and onto the floor when she did something I didn't expect. She looked up at me and said with a half smile on her face and half her hair in her eyes "Well, this is new."

**There u go**

**Hope u enjoyed 17 **

**In 18 I hope to have a funny morning scene, one or two shrink sessions, Fang's b-day, the first day of school, and maybe even a little more :D**

**Reviews r appreciated so please review :D **


	20. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Max's POV**

I was surprised when I didn't freak out when I found myself in Fang's bed sleeping nearly on top of him. Instead I acted like it was nothing extremely weird but instead something mildly interesting.

Fang replied to my earlier comment with a smile on his face by saying "Yeah it is." I smiled some more. I swear I could have stayed like that forever. Then we both started to lean toward each other. There were two voices in the back of head yelling. One was saying _Do it!_ while the other was shouting _Stop! What the hell are you thinking, you idiot! _

Then there was a knock at the door and I back up quickly, whipping my head around to look at the door. "Hey, Fang! You up?" I heard from the other side and looked over at Fang with obvious panic on my face. Iggy was right on the other side of the door and he _would_ pick the lock to get in. And Fang hadn't set up his weird gizmo to keep him out.

This was not good.

_What do we do_ I mouthed to Fang, completely forgetting about the almost-kiss. He thought for a moment then mouthed back _Hide under the bed_. I nodded and Fang got out, with me following him. He walked over to the door and I slid under the bed. Once I was there Fang opened the door and Iggy stepped into the room. I watched their feet as they talked.

"Did you just wake up?" asked Iggy with surprise in his voice. "Yeah" said Fang doing a pretty good job of acting like everything was normal. (Well, as normal as it ever gets around here.) "Are you ok, dude? You're always up before the rest of us." Iggy said with concern. Now I was wondering if Iggy was ok. "Oh! I know! You must've been making out with Max, came in late, and now you're tired. I get it."

Iggy was going to be fine.

"Iggy" said Fang with anger in his voice "for the umpteenth time. I. Am. Not. With. Max." I watched Iggy walk out but not without yelling over his shoulder "But you should be!" I heard Fang let out a sigh then close his door. I silently crawled out from under the bed and looked at Fang.

He still had his hand on the door with a thoughtful look on his face. He obviously wasn't seeing to door knob that he was staring at. "Fang" I said in a quiet voice. He looked up at me and blinked like he didn't think I was still here. He shook his head a little then said in a half there half not voice "Yeah?" I was a little worried about him but chalked it up to Fang being Fang. Plus I really had to get out of here. My mind was going a mile a minute trying to sort out all the thoughts and feelings swirling around in my head "I gotta go before the girls come looking for me."

He nodded and seemed to come back to earth completely as he said "Right, right." He walked over to the window and opened it for me. "Thanks" I said, stole a hug (Why the heck did I do that?), then left. When I got into my room I closed my window, closed the curtains, and slid down the wall next to the window.

I didn't know what to think or feel. Was this just some weird thing that would blow over in a day or two? Or was this going to come back and bit me in the butt later? God I hate complicated emotions! I gave myself a go mental shake and decided I would think about this later when I actual had the time for it. I got up, grabbed a tank top, jeans, and a hoodie form my closet then went into the bathroom to change. Once out I walked out and into the kitchen where Ella and Nudge were waiting for me and talking about something related to fashion no doubt.

"Finally! You're awake! I thought I was going to have to get Fang or Iggy to come over here and wake you up. Actually Ig texted me that Fang was still asleep so it would probably be Ig. Can you believe Fang slept till-!" I slapped my hand over Nudge's mouth. I gave her a _shut-up-or-I'll-kill-you_ look then walked out the door and over to Fang's; trying (and failing) to force the almost-kiss out of my head.

I walked in and saw everyone was already sitting at the table serving themselves. I went and sat down in my usual spot next to Fang. "We need to talk." I heard him say. It was so low only I could hear it. I looked over at him and gave him a slight nodded. I wasn't really happy about it but it had to be done. I really hate my life sometimes.

We were just finishing up with breakfast and I was thinking about what I was going to say to Fang when Dr. M decided to drop a bomb. (No, not literally.)

"Max" she said from her place half across the table from me. "Yes?" I asked. "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you earlier than this but you have an appointment with the psychiatrist in about an hour." I looked at her like she had just let the boys blow things up whenever they wanted. Then I shook my head and said "What? You can't be serious!" I was completely out raged that she could just say something like that so casually. I mean, really, she could have told me sooner! Plus I had a bit of an anger management/surprises issue but she should've figured that out by now.

"Now Max –" she started to say but I cut her off by standing up, making the chair screech in the process, and dumping my plate in the sink rather roughly. I turned and started walking out the house with anger on the verge of madness painted clearly across my face when I felt a hand on shoulder that turned me around to face the person it was attached to. It turned out it was Fang and the minute he looked into my eyes he read me thoughts like an open book and said in a calming voice "Slow down, Max, think this through." I glared at him but he knew it was just me being _extremely_ irritated.

He gave me this look that I knew all too well. It was one that was supposed to make me take a deep breath and think. I never took the breath (just to annoy him a little) but it did make me stop and think. I thought for a little bit and let some logic and rationality in to help. Once done I opened my eyes and asked in a half strangled voice "How long does it take to get there?"

"What?" she asked sounding confused. Fang could tell that was the only thing I was going to be able to say to her without screaming so he did the translating for once and replied "She wants to know how long it takes to get the shrinks office." She still sounded pretty confused but answered, saying "About 20 minutes, why? What's this all about?" We were still staring at each other never having stopped and I asked him "You coming or clarifying the newbies on my way of dealing with rage?" He raised an eyebrow at me and said "Last time you went out on a 'run' and I was there you ran till it was dark because you had lost track of time. I don't feel like going out in a search party or be told I can't go so what do you think I'm going to do?" I gave him a wicked grin, turned, went out the front door, jumped the steps, and started running the second my feet hit the ground. I heard people yelling at us to stop but I ignored it. I just listened to the pounding of Fang's and mine's feet.

Now just to let you know. We are not running away. This is how I deal with my emotions most of the time. I run and run till I can't take another step then start walking to a bed, pass out in it, and stay there till I wake up. I always feel better after and Fang says I'm much more reasonable when I wake up. The reason he came with me is because I have a little too much fun on these runs when I don't have anyone to remind me that I need to get back to reality.

I have substituted the bed for a tree or even the ground although he doesn't know that. (Ssshhhh.) So he'll come when he isn't the cause of my anger and makes sure I get back home with enough energy to make it to a bed and not have to settle for a tree (they're more comfortable than you'd think). In this case he'll make sure I get back with enough time to hop in a car and go to the shrink.

That shrink is going to have some fun with me that's for sure.

When we had run for a long time Fang said it was time to head back. I obviously didn't want to go back but he challenged me to a race and I never back down from a challenge so we raced back to the house. He knows me way to well.

When we got there we were running as fast as we could so we ran into either side of the door. We called it a draw and waited for someone to open the door. No one did so I grabbed the spare key from on top the door, unlocked it, then walked in. I grabbed two glasses while he got the ice. He dumped the ice in and I filled them with water. We clicked glasses, laughed, and drank most of the water in the glasses. Once we had down about three cups each we left them in the sink and went over to the table and just sat there. "So, you good?" Fang asked after a minute or two of silence. I nodded then looked over at him.

His shirt was half drenched and his hair looked permanently messed up because we had been running against the wind the whole way back. The funny thing was I still thought he looked good. I felt a small smile on my face as I took in his appearance. Fang was looking back at me, maybe doing the same thing I was. Then he reached out and moved some of my hair out of my eyes. "That's better." I heard him mutter to himself. I was about to do or say something (I wasn't sure which or what yet) when the door opened and in came Dr. M.

Fang immediately dropped his hand form my face as she came in. She was so focused on what she was doing she didn't even notice we were there. She went over to the phone and started dialing a number. She hit 'talk' then turned and leaned against counter. She saw us, looked away, did a double take, and then screamed. I sighed, got up, and started walking to the car. Fang followed me, no doubt thinking I was going to go for another run. Once I walked through the door Fang asked "Run?" (Ha! I was right.) I shook my head no and walked to the car. I hopped up and sat on the trunk. Fang did the same and asked "Waiting?" I nodded my head yes.

After a few seconds Fang said "Did we switch roles or something because I'm talking more than you. And _I'm_ the silent one." I laughed loudly and leaned against Fang. Then looked over at Fang to see him grinning. I stopped laughing but still leaned against him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I put my head on his. I tried to keep my head blank and just enjoy this but I couldn't. I kept thinking about this morning and I really needed to know what he thought about all this. Plus his head probably wasn't as bad as mine.

"Fang?" I said after my internal debate. "Max?" he said in reply. "We have to figure this out." I felt him take a deep breath and could practically feel the relief pour through. He must have been thinking of the same thing. "Yes. We do. When do you want to talk about it?" he said. I moved to where I could look him in the eye. "Right now." He looked a little surprised but said "Ok, do you want to start?" I chuckled but it held little humor. "My head is a complete mess right now. You probably have this more sorted out than I do." It was his turn for the humorless chuckle and he replied "I'm sure my head is just as screwed as yours."

I took a breath then said "Alright, what do you want to do about this? We could just pretend the whole thing never happened or…" I stopped talking because I had gotten caught in Fang's eyes and now I couldn't look away. I could tell he was having some sort of silent argument with himself in his head but I could quite tell what about. After a while of just staring at each other Fang broke the silence by saying something I really had not expected. "Do you want go out with me?"

My jaw would have hit the floor if that were humanly possible. I mean, Fang was blunt but, seriously, you could give a girl some warning! "What?" I said utterly confused. "Like on a date. You know what, never mind. Forget I just said that. Just forget the whole thing." He had hopped off the car by now and was head for his house now grumbling to himself but I hopped off too and grabbed his shoulder.

With some effort I turned him around and looked at his face. He wouldn't meet my eyes so I moved some of the mop he called hair out of the way so could see his face more clearly. When I did that he looked up at me and meant eyes. There were so many emotions in his eyes that I could barely read them all. Eventually I found my voice and said after gathering ever last scrap of courage I had in me "When?" It was his turn to look utterly confused as he replied "Huh?" I took a deep breath and managed to say "When…do you want to… go out?" He just looked at me with a completely shocked expression on his face and I started to ramble something along the lines of "Never mind. Forget I mentioned it."

I was turning around to go back in the house when Fang grabbed my arm, turned me around, held me by my shoulders, and kissed me.

At first I didn't do anything. I just froze as my brain left me to fend for myself. Then I did what I thought I would never do. I kissed him back. I was kissing my best friend in my garage the day after the night I was nearly kidnapped and I was practically in heaven. Wow my life is weird.

After a little while we broke apart and just stood there. My psyche had split in two and was now warring against each other. One was saying that I was putting him danger (I did have someone out to kill me after all) and ruining our friendship. The other was saying I should just go for what I wanted for once and go out with him.

I stared at him and I could tell he was waiting for me to say or do something. I made one of my infamous split decisions and asked still a little breathless "So when are we going?" He smiled that smile the made everything brighter and hugged me. I hugged him back and he whispered into my hair "Tell you when you get back?" He sounded like he was just as happy and confused as I was. "Ok. Do we tell the others?" He didn't say anything for a while but then he replied "What do you want to do?" I thought about it for a moment then replied "How about we tell them after we go out? We can see how it goes and if it goes good then…" I let my head toy with that, coming up with scenarios of all kinds. I felt Fang nodded his head and it brought me out of mind and back into the really world. "I think that's a good idea." he said in reply.

Just as he had finished talking we heard a door open and slam, running, then someone yelling "MAX! FANG! COME BACK!" We jumped apart as if there had been an electrical current running through us. I shook off my surprise before Dr. M could scream again and yelled back "We never left!" She whipped around, saw us, came running toward us, and practically tackled us in a hug. We both automatically became statues and she let us go saying sorry about half a million times before she asked "Why'd you two run away? You had me worried sick! I thought I had made you so upset you had run away from home and Fang was going with you."

I made calm down motions with my hands as I said "Everything's ok. I just got mad because I hadn't gotten much sleep last night. When I get mad I started running and Fang has learned to come with me because I either get lost or too tired to come back. He makes sure I get back safe and in relatively one piece." I said with a teasing smile at Fang. He rolled his eyes but smiled back. "Oh" said Dr. M "I didn't know."

I smiled at her this time and said "It's ok. I blew off some steam, talk a little with Fang," I looked over at him to see him smiling at me knowingly "and now I'm ok. If you want me to I'll go to the shrink. That is if we aren't late or something." She looked at me with a slight smile on her face. "Really?" she asked me like she couldn't believe I was being this agreeable. I nodded and said "Yeah, of course." She hugged me again and said "Thank you so much, Max, you don't know how much this means to me." She let me go and went to start the car.

"See you later?" Fang asked. I knew the question meant more than just what the words did. I nodded and smiled. He smiled back, turned, and started walking back to his house. I watched him for a little bit then got into the car. "Ready?" asked Dr. M. I still had a small smile on my face and I didn't really sound all there when I replied "Yeah" she started the car and didn't hear when I added under my breath "I think I just I might be."

When we got to the shrink's office we went into the waiting room and, well, waited. We all know how good I am at that. After I had read both of the magazines they had out I just spaced out while staring at the wall. "Max" said Dr. M, after a while, from beside me.

I jumped at the sudden noise and looked over at her. "The doctor is here." she said with slight concern in her voice. I looked behind her to see a guy in a dress shirt, slacks, and loafers. He had glasses and a worried look on his face too. I sighed, got up and started walking down the hall that had a lot of doors. I realized no one was following me so I turned around and went back to the waiting room. I stopped in the doorway to the hall and asked the shrink who was still standing there "Are you coming or can I leave?" He shook his head as if trying to wake up and said "Yes, yes of course. Right this way." He walked past me and led me down the hall and into a room that was painted white.

I now officially hate the color white. It always shows up at the moments of which I will be the most irritated.

I sat down on a couch that was opposite from a comfortable looking chair. The guy sat in the chair and said "Hi, my name is Dr. Jackson but you can call me Paul if you like. What's your name?" I looked around the room completely ignoring his question. I was thinking about the likely hood of the window being locked, it probably was.

"Um…hello?" said the doc after watching me look around for a while. I looked him the eye with a look that would have made Fang proud it was so devoid of emotion. "Yes" I said, my voice mirroring the look in my eyes. "What's your name?" he asked calmly. I knew he was trying to act as if my coldness had no effect on him but I could tell it did. "You already know it." I told him.

I'm sure Dr. M had told him my name and everything he really needed to know. (Like why she sent me to see him in the first place.) He seemed slightly put off by this. That made me happy. "If you, please, could fill out this questionnaire while I go talk to your mom?" He handed me a sheet of paper and a pencil then walked out the door and into the hall closing it on his way out. I got up leaving the paper and pencil on the couch and started pacing around the room.

My mind wandered for a few seconds then locked onto two different lines of thought. 1) Fang had asked me out and he had kissed me! 2) The guy out to kill me was back. Lovely. I let my mind run with those two lines of thought and somewhere in there came up with a third which was: What was for lunch? I sighed at this thought. I was being hunted down and I going on a date with my best friend. How could I be thinking of food at a time like this!

Just then the doc came back in and I stopped pacing to stare at him at the door. "Did you finish the questionnaire yet?" he asked. I snorted and went back to my pacing and thinking. The doc tried asking me more questions but I ignored him so eventually he gave up and just watched me pace. When the hour was over I walked out the door, down the hall, and into the waiting room where Dr. M was waiting for me. We left before the doc came out and started heading home. "So did the session go well? Did you work through some things?"

I smirked but didn't let her see. "I got some things sorted out." I replied. And I had. While I was pacing I was thinking about how to break-in proof my house and room, plus I had time to wonder where Fang was going to take me. "That sounds wonderful." she said with happiness in her voice. If only she knew.

When we got back I went to my room. The girls were out with friends and Dr. M would have to go to her office soon. I would be all alone in the house. Of course Fang could come in through my window at almost any time and I could always go through his if I need to see Gazzy and/or Iggy for some strange reason. (So much for my being all alone, eh?)

When I got to my room though Fang was already there sitting in one of the two bean bag chairs. I closed my door, locked it, and went sit on the other bean bag next to Fang. Before I could sit down but past the point I could regain my balance Fang grabbed me around my waist and pulled me on top of him. "Hey!" I said when I sat down on Fang instead of the bag. I was practically lying down on him so my head was right next to his. He put his chin on my shoulder and said "Hello to you too." I could hear the smile in his voice and chuckled a little.

"So" I said trying to sound casual and most likely failing miserably "have you decided where or when we're going?" I could feel more than hear him say "I was hoping we could go tomorrow. Want to?" I smiled a little as I said "Sure but where are we going?" I could practically _see_ the evil grin in knew was on his face as he told me "I'm keeping that a secret." I flipped over to where I was still lying down on him but now my face was only a few inches from his. I saw his eyes widen in surprise but it wasn't much. Then again this is Fang we're talking about.

"Why? You know I hate surprises." I said in a voice barely above a whisper. "That's exactly why." he said in a voice no higher than mine. I was about to say more when he flipped me onto the other bag. Now I was lying on my back and he was on top of me. He wasn't squishing me but it wasn't like I was going anywhere any time soon.

Then he kissed me.

I kissed him back, bringing my arms up and wrapping them around his neck while he put a hand behind my head in an effort to have even less space between us. We tilted our heads this way and that and after a while I felt him run his tongue along my bottom lip. I parted my lips a little not knowing what to expect. Then he put his tongue in my mouth. I gasped because I really hadn't been expecting that.

He moved to where he was sitting next to me and looking at me like I might hit him. "Sorry. Too much?" he asked. I smiled a little trying to catch my breath. "No… just a little surprised is all." I lay back down and Fang did the same next to me. After sitting in a comfortable silence for a long time with Fang's arm around me, I heard the front door open and close and the two voices of my sisters. Angel probably went home. I looked over at Fang and he mouthed 'See you later.' then got up, went over to the window, opened it, and went back to his house.

I moved to where I was lying on both bean bags, grabbed my book that was (thankfully) nearby, and acted like I had been reading instead of making out with Fang. Just as I had finished moving around Nudge and Ella came in and tossed a bunch of shopping bags onto my bed. I looked over my book and raised an eyebrow at them once they had turned around to look at me.

Nudge shook her head at my expression and said "You've been spending way too much time with Fang." I rolled my eyes at her as Ella turned to her and asked "I thought we wanted them to spend time with each other?" Nudge gave Ella a look that clearly said '_shut up_' then looked back at me with that all-too-innocent look on her face. I sighed, got up, and asked "So what have you bought to torture me with this time."

Nudge and Ella looked at me with confusion clearly showing on their faces. I gave them a questioning look and asked "What? You normally leap at the chance to put me in weird clothes."

"Aren't you going to interrogate us?" asked Ella. I gave them a confused look and asked "About what?" Nudge gave me an '_are-you-serious_' look then said in a duh tone of voice "What we were just talking about!" I raised an eyebrow at her and said "Oookkk…. What were you two talking about, then?" Nudge and Ella smiled as if everything was alright again and said at the same time "We're not going to tell you."

"Then why did you make me ask you!" I said exasperatedly. Nudge drew in a deep breath and I knew she was going to start on this long monolog so I held up a hand so she wouldn't start. "My head is already messed up enough without trying to follow your weird and confusing logic. Just tell me what to put on and I'll be on my way."

**Ok so I didn't get all that I had wanted into the ch. but I got some**

**Plus Fax! I also updated b/c I was sure someone was going to show up at my house to force me to write**

**I'm not even going to explain my plan b/c it'll probably change by the time I post again**

**Review please! :D**


	21. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Fang's POV**

I went into my room when Ella and Nudge came back to started, no doubt, torturing Max. Besides I had to think up what we were going to do on our date. Yes, I know I told Max I was keeping it a secret but really I hadn't even thought of it yet.

For a few hours I paced around my room, threw a tennis ball against the wall (why did I have one of those in my room?), and stared at the ceiling; trying to think of something to do on a date that Max would actually like. Eventually I hurled the tennis ball at the wall really hard in pure frustration and plopped down on my bed with my hands shoved into my hair.

A few seconds after that Iggy came in and said "Did you just punch the wall or something?" I sat up, letting my hands fall into my lap as I said "No. It was a tennis ball." Ig looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said "Frustrated are we?" I snorted in reply and continued trying to think through my mind block.

"What are you thinking about? I thought you were at Max's. Speaking of which, when did you get in? And how?" I looked over at him from staring intently at the wall and told him "You've been spending entirely too much time with Nudge." He snorted but went and sat at my desk chair. "Seriously, though, dude what are you thinking about? And why haven't you asked Max about it. She's your best friend after all." I ran a hand through my hair again and said in a slightly hesitant voice "This isn't really something I can talk to Max about, dude."

"Finally!" said Iggy, raising his hands toward the sky and completely confusing me until he said "You've finally admitted it to yourself that you like her!" I did a face-palm to hide the smirk on my face. He really had no idea but I might be able to work this to my advantage. I looked over at Iggy with a now serious look in my eye and asked "Can you keep a secret Ig?" he looked at me, slightly confused then said "Sure, Fang, what's wrong?" I got up and started pacing again because I had found that moving helped me think.

"Nothing's wrong I just don't know where to take this girl out on this date. Do you have any ideas?" "Why not just bring her to the movies or out to dinner?" I shook my head no and said "That probably wouldn't be good. She doesn't like crowds." Now he looked even more confused. "You're right this one is going to be tough." I continued to pace, while Iggy continued to watch me. Then he snapped his figures and jumped out of his chair.

I nearly ran into him but back pelted quickly and gave him a _what-the-hell? _look. "Sorry, dude, but does this girl like trees and the forest and stuff like that?" I raised an eyebrow at him but nodded a hesitant yes. "Perfect!" he said with slight surprised and happiness written all over his face.

He really was spending too much time with Nudge.

"You take her out to one of those places you're always sketching. I'm sure they look even better in person so, unless she hates nature and stuff, I think she would think that it would be pretty cool." I thought about it for a moment then looked back up at Iggy. I grabbed him by the shoulders and said "Dude you are a genius!" I ran out my room to start preparing for the hike as I heard Iggy call from my room "Finally you admit it!"

**Max's POV**

I was in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror trying to figure out why I humored the girls at all.

I sighed to myself, walked out the bathroom, and into my room. Ella and Nudge squealed while I winced at the extremely high pitch. I closed my eyes while they went on and on about what I was wearing because I really couldn't have care less about what I looked like at the moment. It was some sort of fruffy t shirt that Nudge had and said would fit me. Then they proceeded to stuff me in the bathroom with it.

While I had clothes on the brain I had started to think about what I would wear on my date with Fang tomorrow. There was no way I could ask the girls so it looked like I was on my own. Although I could probably use one of the things from their side of my closet. (That was a very weird sentence.) They noticed my distraction and started to yell my name persistently.

Both of them.

At the same time.

"Quiet please!" I yelled back. They immediately stopped yelling at me. "Now" I said in a much calmer voice "what do you want?" "It looks awesome on you Max!" they said together. It was very weird. "How does it looking 'awesome' on me prompted you to start screaming my name at me?" Thankfully Ella answered and said "Because you weren't paying attention to us." Nudge nodded from beside her and said "Yeah because when I asked if you would ever wear this on a date you didn't answer and when I asked if I could dress you for a date you didn't answer me and-"

I cut her off by wrapping my hand around her mouth then asked Ella "Why is she so obsessed with me going on a date today." Ella smiled and replied saying "She just realized on the way back home that we don't know much about your past dating life. I guess she got curious. I am to, so will you tell us?" She looked really excited about this and when I looked over at Nudge she looked pretty excited about it too.

Boy, were they going to be disappointed.

I sighed and motioned for them to sit on the bed. They screeched, ran over to my bed, and plopped down on it before I could move an inch. If the talking at the same time thing wasn't creepy enough then this definitely was. "Alright, truth is I have never had a boyfriend." I said this and it was immediately meant with disbelief and screeching. I was getting extremely annoyed by all this loud noise.

"Would you two quick that!" I yelled. They shut up and looked at me like they were trying to figure out if I was being serious or not. "What would you consider a boyfriend?" Ella asked. She always was the logical one between her and Nudge. Plus it was an excellent question. "Umm…" I thought for a few seconds then replied "I think they would be someone you know and can trust."

Ella looked thoughtful as Nudge and I stared at her, trying to figure out what she was getting at. "So, you wouldn't consider someone you've just meant and gone out with once or twice a boyfriend?" I shook my head and so I wouldn't be so Fang-like said "No, not really, why?" She and Nudge smiled at each other and I didn't know whether to be scared or not. It was, after all, very creepy smiles.

"So, Max, how many people have you dated?" asked Nudge. Lovely. Now there was no escaping this subject. Darn Ella and her logical thinking. "Well…umm…" I said stalling, trying to figure out how to get out the room without using the window. "Come on, you can tell us. Please?" that would be Ella and I still haven't figured a way out of this.

If I went for the door they would get there before me and if I went out the window they would then know about that and I wouldn't be able to use it anymore. What to do, what to do? "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" they said together and they gave me Bambi eyes. Darn it! Now I had to tell them! Or did I… "How about I don't tell you anything and I let you dress me up for the first date I go on in this town?" The two of them looked at each other, trying to figure out which they would want to do more.

Know about my past or have a say in the future?

After a lot of whispered arguing they finally decided that they would rather pick an outfit for me since they thought I was utterly hopeless at that. Thank God they didn't know I was going on a date with Fang!

Ella, Nudge, and I were heading over to Fang's because our mom was working late and so was Fang's dad. As we were walking over I noticed that it was about to rain and the mail had passed. "You guys go ahead. I'll put the mail in the house and meet you guys there." Ella nodded and Nudge said "Ok, Max but don't take too long. You know how Iggy is with his food and all."

I smiled, we all loved to pick on Iggy about his love of food but, damn, could that boy cook! I grabbed the mail and started heading back to the house. _I hope I can get to Fang's before the rain_ I thought as I grabbed the mail. I looked through it while I walked and came to a letter addressed to me.

I gave it a confused look that was lost on the envelope. I threw the rest of the mail onto the counter as I looked for the return address. The weird thing was it didn't have one. It didn't have a stamp either. I had a bad feeling about it in the pit of my stomach.

I opened it while I was walking down the side walk to get to Fang's and was walking in the door when I finally got it out the envelope.

This is what it said:

Dear M.,

Tisck, tisck, tisck. You're getting sloppy the longer you stay in that place. I would have gotten you last time if it hadn't been for that boy. Next time you and your friends wont been so lucky.

~A

P.S. - you should really lock your windows at night

I swear my heart nearly jumped out of chest right then and there, right inside Fang's front door. Instead it logged itself in my throat and, luckily, prevented me from screaming like a maniac in a house full of my friends and family. One thing I knew for sure though I had to get away from here. And fast.

Preferably before something bad happened to someone I knew.

**I know it's not much but I haven't had much time to write lately. It would have been longer but I figured you would want something so I gave you this. I know I'm being somewhat evil but it could be worse. I could have killed off someone or something along that depressing line of thought. **

**Anyway. **

**Please review :D **


	22. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**Max's POV**

I put the note back into the envelope, folded it, then smoothed over my expression. The only person this wasn't going to work was Fang but if I said I was ok and we were surrounded by people we both didn't want to worry he wouldn't press me for answers.

I walked into the dining room and acted like everything was fine. Just as I expected everyone bought it but Fang. When we were picking up dishes while everyone else was in the living room he asked "Are you ok? You seem worried or distracted or something."

Why did he have to be so smart as to ask me what was wrong when no one was around? Guess that's why I liked him so much. "I'm fine. I'm just trying to process everything that's happened lately." I said with a smile at him. And that was the truth it just wasn't the whole truth. He must not have bought it because he gave me a look that clearly said that he wasn't buying it. Again, darn Fang and his intelligence!

"Will you at least promise me to tell me later when you're ready?" he asked. I smiled at him and this time it was for real. He didn't demand information like must people did, he waited till you were ready then listen to what you had to say. Of all the people I was going to miss I would miss him the most. But, then again, I guess that was pretty obvious.

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my body close to his. He looked a little surprised but it didn't seem like he was complaining. I kissed him and I swear it was like electricity had replaced my blood. We stayed like that for what seemed like forever but was actually just minutes before we pulled away. I didn't want to but if we stayed like that much longer someone was going to walk in and that would be really bad.

Then I leaned in to whisper in his ear "Tell the others I'll be back in about an hour. I need to clean my room before mom gets home." I kissed him on the check, turn, and left before I turned around again and lost all my courage.

Because if I saw his face I wouldn't be able to do what I had to do.

**Fang's POV **

Max had just kissed me, turned my world upside down, and now she was walking away like that hadn't affected her nearly as much as it had affected me.

Once she had left the kitchen I leaned against the counter and just breathed. I felt a small, dazed smile on my face as I let the last few minutes play back in my head. I knew something was bothering her but she would tell me when she was ready. Life was actually going pretty good right now.

I heard something from off to the side of me but didn't bother looking over. The noise stopped then "Whoa. I haven't seen that look on your face since…well…ever!" I looked over at Iggy and said in a voice that didn't sound completely devoid of emotion for once "Shut up, Iggy." Now I had really shocked him. I walked passed him and into the living room to hang out with the rest of the family.

If I had known what was going on I would have followed her and never let her out of my sight…

**Max's POV**

I walked back to the house in case someone was watching. I went in and locked the door behind me. Then I ran up the stairs and in to my room where I started throwing things into a bag. I grabbed some clothes, my cell, my iPod, and some food from the kitchen. I switched off my cell to save the battery and threw a jacket on over my hoodie and tank top because it looked like it was going to rain soon.

Once I was done packing the one bag I found some paper, a pencil, and two envelopes; one small enough to fit in the other. I wrote a short note to my family in general then wrote a longer one to Fang. I owed him, of all people, an explanation.

Once I had sealed the notes in their places I slung my bag over my shoulder and went out onto the roof. It was slightly darker now so I was less likely to be seen this way. I almost silently hopped onto Fang's roof, put the note inside his window, then gently closed it back. I got back on my own roof and walked to the back of the house. There was a tree there that I climbed down instead of walking out one of the doors.

After I had gotten to the back yard I made my way to the fence and climbed over it. I took one last look at the two houses I knew as home and felt something wet rolling down the side of my face. I wiped it off and realized I was crying. I closed my eyes and took one last breath of fresh air before turning around and beginning the 1 mile hike through the forest to the city.

**Fang's POV **

It had been about an hour since Max had left so I thought she would be in soon. I heard a knock on the door and I got up to go answer it because I was the only one not in a conversation at the moment. Expecting to see Max I opened the door only to find Dr. M.

"Hi, Fang. Are the girls over here?" she said smiling at me. I offered her a small smile and said in reply "Nudge and Ella are but Max went clean her room after dinner because she said you would kill her if she didn't." She gave me a confused look then said "She cleaned it this morning." Now I was just as confused as her.

"Hey, mom, how was work?" Nudge said as she came into the door way. "Oh did you see the mail. I think Max might have put it on the table or maybe she said somewhere else…"

I started walking back with them to the others, still thinking about why Max would lie like that. I stopped walking as I started thinking harder. She had picked up the mail, she had been off at dinner, she had kissed me after, and she had lied about why she had to leave. I thought about all this and tried to factor in Max's way of thinking. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks right in the stomach. "God, damn it!" I swore loudly then turned, and started running for Max's room. I heard people behind me saying things but I wasn't paying an attention to them. I could be over reacting but…

knowing Max…

I ran into her room practically ripping it off its hinges as I did. When I got there all the lights were off, the window was open, and so was the closet. I started checking all the other rooms and when I did find her anywhere else I started for the front door again. That is until Iggy stopped me in the small hall leading to the door.

"What's going on, man? You've got everyone freaked! I mean, you cursed in front of the little ones, dude!" I grabbed him by his shoulders a little harder than necessary but I needed to get it through his head that everything was not ok and that there was a very legitimate reason to freak.

"Where's Max?" I asked him simply but he could hear the distress in my voice. He put his head to the side and said "Here, right?" I shook my head no. "Out for a run?" he asked, but I could tell he was just grasping at straws. "I don't think so." I told him, then started running to my house. I got in and everyone started talking to me. I ignore them and took the stairs two at a time up to my room.

Once there I slide to a stop in the door way. I saw something on the floor that shouldn't have been there. I closed the door, locked it, and then walked over to the white rectangle on the floor.

I picked it up and saw that it was an envelope. On the front, scrawled in Max's handwriting, was Fang.

Just as the pounding of fists on my door started I opened it the find a letter and another envelope. I let the other envelope fall to the floor and started reading the note addressed to me.

Dear Fang,

I'm sorry I had to leave without a real good bye but I hope this makes up for it if only a little bit. I didn't want to leave but I had to. He was going to hurt you and the others if I didn't. I know you'll try to find me and nothing I say in this letter will stop you so you can try if you want but it won't be easy. I plan on making sure of that. If you do find me again though I'll understand if you hate me for doing this to everyone and you. There's another letter here to give to the others because I still don't want them to have to worry about the guy out to get me. Since I'm gone he should leave you guys alone. I hope you all have a good time, well….living.

Yours,

Max

PS- No matter how you remember me, remember this: I love you, and I always will. And there is NOTHING you can do to change that.

I stood there looking at the letter open mouthed and seeing red. She had just left to get some murderous lunatic that has been after her since she was four to follow her so that he wouldn't hurt her family and she thinks I'm going to be worried he stayed behind to hurt us! The only thing I was worried about right now was if I was going to find her dead or alive.

I thought about the guy that had caused her so much pain over the years and I was soon seeing even more red. If he even so much as _thought_ about hurting her while I couldn't protect her…

I felt a dull pain in my hand and looked over at it. It turns out I was wrist deep into my wall. I took it out and saw that my knuckles were bleeding. It hurt but it was better than thinking about how my heart was doing at the moment. I faintly heard my door being opened and people coming in. I felt someone turn me around and looked up with a murderous expression on my face.

When I saw it was Ig I felt a little bad and smoothed out my expression until it showed nothing. "Why did you just punch the wall?" he asked once he saw my face smooth out. I walked over to the smaller envelope on the floor, picked it up, and gave it to him. I had crumpled my note up in my hand before I had hit the wall so they wouldn't know anything about it.

I went into my bathroom, closed, and locked the door. I couldn't take hearing it all again without destroying something else plus I needed to patch myself up. I uncurled my hand with some difficulty and saw the small ball of paper there. I un-crumpled it, then folded it to put in my pocket.

After that I tended to my wound and walk out the bathroom with a slightly mummified hand and an impenetrable mask to hide the pain and rage I was feeling. All eyes were on me as I stopped in front of everyone. I could tell they had read the note because the girls were crying and Dr. M along with my brothers were trying to look tough.

"We'll find her, Fang. Don't worry." That was Iggy trying to be reassuring. I say trying because I already knew we were going to find her.

I just didn't know whether it was going to be dead or alive.

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while but I had things to do and I found that for a while sleep was more important than writing. That's just my opinion though.**

**Anyway, please review! Maybe if you review enough it will remind me to write more often and you might get a chapter quicker :D **


	23. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Max's POV **

I stood on top of a bare hill looking down at the city beneath me. I was nearly there and it had taken me about half an hour to get there. They shouldn't even be looking for me yet.

I started my decent and when I reached the bottom I could hear the city all around me. I walked around for a while until it started to rain. After a little I found a restaurant that wasn't quit fast food but pretty close. I walked in and headed for the bathrooms.

Once there I went into the handicapped stall because it had room, a mirror, and a sink all behind closed doors. I grabbed a few paper towels, wet them then used them to rub off the dirt smudges I had all over my hands and face. The rest of me had been covered by my jacket and pants. Once I was done with that I got the clothes I had in my bag out. I pulled a low-cut black and white tie-dye tank top over the black one I was wearing; I change out of my loose fitting jeans into black skinny ones. I kept on my converse and my necklaces. I ran a brush through my hair, used my pocket knife to cut it to where it hit my shoulders instead of the middle of my back and arranged it in a way Nudge and Ella would say was 'hot', packed up my stuff, and walked out the bathroom as if nothing had ever happened.

I was slinging my bag back over my shoulder when I felt someone staring. I looked over at the counter and saw a guy a little older than me gawking at me. I smirked at the look on his face and walked out. It wasn't quite raining now, more like drizzling. I didn't care so I just kept walking.

After a while I became aware of the feeling of eyes on my back and footsteps following mine. I didn't show it but I tensed up and got ready for a fight. After about a half hour of this I was beginning to think I was being overly paranoid and started to relax a little.

Big mistake.

The minute I started relaxing someone came up from behind me, put their arm around my mouth so I couldn't scream and dragged me down an alley. I put up a pretty good fight, if I do say so myself, but it wasn't enough to get away from my stupidly strong attacker. Darn big people with big muscles. After he had dragged me pretty far down the alley he turned me around and pushed me against a wall. I was away from him but there was only a few feet between us and he had me completely cornered so this situation sucked about as much as the last one.

Lovely.

"Hello, Maximum. Long time no see, eh?"

I froze at the mention of my full name and his voice. It was the same voice that had belonged to one of the people that had broken into my house and killed my parents. The one gunman that had gotten away. The one that wanted me dead.

I started at him; his face was in the shadows but I could tell he was built and would be hard for me to fight. If he had been just some guy my age and that big it would have been an easy fight but he had skills and technique. That would be hard to beat.

"What's your name?" I asked him. I didn't really want to know his name but I needed time to figure out how to escape so I was trying to get him talking. "Why would you want to know my name?" he asked. He really did sound genuinely confused. Either he was a great actor or he really didn't have an explanation for my question.

"Aren't I allowed to know my killer's name?" I asked in a defiant voice. Those of you who are saying 'Why the hell are you provoking a cold-blooded killer!' I have a question for you: What the hell did you expect me to say! I'm Maximum Ride for goodness sake, if you don't know me by now you obviously haven't been paying much attention.

He chuckled and it sounded… off. I mean, when Fang chuckles you can hear the amusement and the happiness in it but when this guy chuckled it just sounded so…wrong. It made my skin want to crawl under a rock and hide. I was beginning to agree with it.

"Fiery. Witty. You are a very interesting girl Maximum. So I'll be nice and tell you my name. It's Ari. Hints the 'A' on the letter I gave you." I could practically see the freak's creepy smile. I put on my best death glare, squared my shoulders, and asked in a strong voice "What do you want?"

I saw his head tilt slightly to the side through the shadows as he said in a very matter-of-fact tone "Why, to kill you, of course." He took a step toward me and out of the shadows. He had a scare running down one side of his head and a nasty, twisted grin on his face. I took a step back. Partly to get away, partly because he looked really evil villain-y type.

"It's time for you to die Maximum."

he said in a sing-song voice just before he slammed my head and shoulders against the wall. I gasped as my vision blurred and my brain overloaded on pain signals from the rest of me. He let go of my shoulders and I crumpled to the ground. He was pulling his boot back when I blacked-out.

And I didn't think I was going to wake up from it this time.

**Fang's POV**

We had raced to the police station, ironically, breaking, probably, ever driving rule that was ever made.

When we got there I jumped out the still moving car and ran in, looking for my dad. I knew the others were behind me because I could hear them yelling after me. I just simply chose not to listen to them.

I ran around, jumped over, and passed under half a dozen things trying to find my dad. Police men were trying to catch me but I was too fast. Plus I had a hell of a better reason to be running than they did. Finally I found my dad at his desk looking at some papers.

"Dad!" I yelled from across the room. He looked up surprised to see his son and all his friends running through his work with about ten to twenty cops running after them. On any other occasion this would have been fun and I would have laughed about it later but this was not the time for happiness.

I ran up to my dad and he grabbed me by my shoulders get me to stop and forcing me to look him in the eyes. "What are you doing? You can't just-" he began to say but I cut him off saying "Max is gone!" It was a little louder than I had intended but I got him to listen.

After a few seconds of silence he asked "What do you mean gone?" Dr. M stepped up, putting a hand on my shoulder, and said in a calm voice "She ran way. She left this in Fang's room before she left." She handed him the note and he took it. After he read over it he looked shocked and confused.

"I thought she liked it here. Did something happen?" He directed the question at me. I wasn't surprised. If I was the one that had run and Max was the still here they would be looking to her for answers. I simple shook my head no, not trusting my voice at the moment. Dad, finally getting over the shock, went into cop mode, getting other cops to help with questioning and things like that.

Nudge was practically over-loading the word-o-meter and talking a mile a minute, too. Iggy would take over when she started to cry and Ella made sure she stayed on topic most of the time. Angel and Gazzy were with Dr. M talking to another cop, Gazzy was acting tough and Angel was crying into Dr. M's shirt. I was sitting by myself with another cop trying (and failing) to getting me to tell him something.

But I dint have time to talk, I had too much to think about without having to put it into words. What I was thinking about was this:

Was Max ok?

Where was she?

Why hadn't she told me?

How was I going to find her?

What should I tell the police?

I wasn't sure if I should tell the police the reason she had run away was because someone was out to kill her. I know that sounds weird but she had asked me not to and Max didn't ask very often, only whenever she really wanted something did she ask and not tell.

But I had to save her.

I mean, what was I supposed to do without her? I went completely silent the first time, and it had taken Iggy asking me about her to make me talk again. And even then it wasn't very often. Not until I found her again.

Bottom line: I had lost her once; I was _not_ losing her again.

To make sure I didn't lose her I needed the police's help and to get that I had to tell them why she had run. I turned it over again and again in my head but I couldn't find any other solution.

On one hand Max would kill me if I told them there was someone out to kill her, but on the other if I didn't tell them I might never see her again.

I took a deep breath and looked up at the cop who was sitting across from me, tuning back into the real world to hear him talking to me. "Fang? Hello? Fang, please answer the question." I raised an eyebrow at him. I sighed internally at his attempt to get me to pay attention and told him in a low voice "Do you want to know why she ran away?"

He blinked, surprised by my sudden cooperation. "Umm…yes?" I glare at the question in his voice. Did he want to find her or not? I looked down at the floor so that he wouldn't have to see my death glare.

"She ran because she had to. Because if she didn't the same person who killed her parents would come after her family. She ran because she didn't want anyone to get hurt. She doesn't care if she lives or dies, as long as the one's she cares about stay safe." I looked back up at him with a dead look in my eyes.

He was open mouthed, wide eyed, and staring at me like I had just done something completely unbelievable. The others had heard and were looking at me the same way. Then they all started asking questions at the same time. The cops were shoved away and soon I was surrounded by my family, all wanting to know if I knew anymore than what I had already said.

I leaned over and put my elbows on my knees, looking down and trying to find something to feel other than sadness with a sprinkle of depression every time I thought of what might have happened to her while I wasn't there. I knew the others were there and were screaming at me to listen to them but I didn't care anymore.

Max wasn't here to keep me open now so I was pulling in on myself. Going into my head where I could pretend that everything was ok and Max wasn't going to be, possibly, gone forever.

**Hey guys, I'm really srry I haven't updated in a long time but I had school and that comes first. Unfortunately, practice comes second and sleep third so I don't have much free time at the moment. again I'm really srry and I hope you'll keep reading and reviewing :D **


	24. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Max's POV**

I opened my eyes to a mist of light grey and white.

I sat up and look down at myself. I was wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, white pants, and white socks. My hair was brown with golden streaks and I was sitting on…well…nothing. The misty stuff was all around with no beginning, end, or change to it anywhere that I could see and there was light because I could see fine but I didn't know where it was coming from.

I felt my eyebrows knit together and stood up, looking around for something, anything. I was turning in a circle looking up down and all around when I looked in back of me and saw something that wasn't white.

"Ahh!' I yelled and jumped back. The girl now standing in front of me smiled slightly, with an amused glint in her eyes. I looked her up and down; she was wearing a navy blue tank top, dark jeans, black converse with wings embroider into them, a hoodie tied around her waist, and her long, brown hair hanging down by her mid-back. She looked familiar but it was like I knew her but I didn't.

"Who are you?" I asked her. I frowned at the sound of my voice, it didn't sound like mine. When I tried to remember what my voice normally sounded like I couldn't. Meanwhile the girl with the brown hair looked at me with sympathy then walked over to me, leaning toward me until her mouth was right by my ear.

"I'm what you lost." She whispered then everything went dark.

**Fang's POV**

There was loud noises coming from outside my head but I wasn't really paying any attention to them. I was trying to find answers to questions I knew I would never be able to answer unless I got out my head into the really world.

_Then why don't you get up and find the answers dim wit!_ yelled a voice in my head. It sounded like Max. It was even saying things Max would say. So why wasn't I listening to it? I had always listened to Max before so why not listen to the voice in my head the talked and sounded like her?

Wow that sounded creepy even to me.

I got up taking my own/ the voice in my head that sounded like Max advice. No one tried to stop me but they were still all yelling at me or asking me a lot of questions. I ignored them all and headed straight for the other end of the station which is where they would have everything set up and where most of the people running the case would be.

When I got there my family stopped talking and yelling as I stared at all the people who had been walking around the room a moment earlier. Now they all stared at me like I was a freak show. I scanned the faces there until I found my dad's.

Once I had I walked over to him and asked "So what do you want me to do?" He search my eyes for a little while, for what I wasn't sure though. It seemed like he found it because he nodded slightly and said in a decisive voice "You can start with telling us where she might have gone." I half smiled but it held no humor. I looked him in the eye and he seemed confused by what he saw there.

"Well…" I started, and let's just say it was a long night.

**Max's POV**

My eyes flew open and I looked around in a panic. White was everywhere and words floated into my head from the back of my mind. It took me a little while to figure out what they were saying…

_I'm sitting in a room  
made up of only big white walls  
and indoor halls…_

I looked around me, at what was on me and what I was sitting on and near. I was in a white hospital dress that had a closed back (thank God). I was sitting in a hospital bed with tubes stuck in my wrists feeding me God knows what and a bunch of wires recording a bunch of stuff and displaying it in a perfectly unreadable way. I quickly took them out, somehow knowing exactly what I was doing although I didn't remember ever doing it before.

Once they were out I checked over myself, cataloging cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I seemed used to doing this but I didn't remember ever doing anything like this. My ribs and head weren't in good shape, in other words they hurt the most and hurt like hell. I put my legs over the bed and testes them. They were a little shaky but otherwise were fine.

I took a deep breath and winced; I stretched, pulling my arms up over my head, and felt the rest of me creak.

I heard loud footsteps growing louder coming from the door. Then someone burst in looking at the bed with a look of pure panic then looked at me with complete confusion. She looked for me to the bed a couple more times before she asked "Are you ok?"

I felt myself frown and tilt my head to the side.

The woman took a deep breath and said "I'm sorry I startled you but the monitors were saying your heart had stopped and it's the night shift and I'm new and-" I decided I better stop her before she exploded from all this talking. I was going to tell her to stop but apparently my mouth had other ideas.

"You sound just like someone I know." After I said this she stopped talking and just stared at me, blinking. I felt my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. I didn't recognize the voice that had just spoken and I didn't know who the woman reminded me of.

"Umm…sorry, I tend to talk a lot." She smiled sheepishly at me and walked over to a clipboard that was hanging off the side of my bed. She read over it then said without looking up from the board "Your chart said you brought in by two men and two women, they found you being beat by a man in an alley."

She looked up at me with a look of sympathy "The two men knocked out the man who was beating you and the two women had a little medical training. They kept you alive until the paramedics could get there. You didn't have any ID on you, and the police wanted to wait until you woke up to start going through your bag. Since you're awake though they shouldn't have to do that but I do have a few questions. First I'm Nichole, what's your name?" She held her hand out like she wanted me to shake it. I looked at it until she placed it back at her side. Then she asked "Can I at least know your name?"

I thought for a moment then I felt confused, then panic, then almost pure terror. I looked up at her and she saw the panicked look on my face and immediately asked "What's wrong?" I looked down at the floor hoping to find answers there but found none.

When I looked back up I felt like I was ten as I told her in a small, lost voice that I didn't recognize "I don't know. I can't remember anything."

**I realize u all hate me I realize this is short I realize I'm not updating as often as anyone would like and I realize this is about the 3****rd**** or 4****th**** cliffhanger I've posted. 2 reasons:**

**Life has been keeping me busy and, no, I'm not that thrilled about it either **

**And 2) I like cliffhangers , deal with it :D **

**Read and review, please :D**


	25. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Max's POV**

They ran test.

That is after they convinced me they weren't going to hurt me.

Once I figure out I didn't remember anything about, well, anything I sorta freaked out and it took them a little while to calm me down. Now they were taking blood and putting me on monitors and in machines of all kinds. I was not a happy camper let me tell you. After they had run test after test for most of the day they said I need to sleep and that when I woke up the police would come and question me and go through me things with me.

I hadn't really cared about much of anything after sleep to tell you the truth. I turned off all the lights and crawled into the little hospital bed (I refused to be wheeled around in a wheel chair) so I could try to get some sleep.

The minute my head hit the pillow I was asleep, but that didn't mean I didn't dream…

I opened my eyes and I was back in the place with the white-gray mist and the weird directionless light. I was already standing this time so I looked around. Almost immediately I saw the girl I had seen before. She looked exactly like the first time we meant and I asked her "Where are we?"

She smiled a little and said in reply "We're in your memories. Well, we're where they're supposed to be, at least." I felt my eyebrows knit together and asked in an utterly confused voice "What?"

She smiled at me like she felt sorry for me. I was about to tell her something about that (although I didn't really know what) when she grabbed one of my hands and told me "Close your eyes." I felt my face automatically shift into a wary expression but did what I was told.

"Now try to remember something from your past. Find something that seems familiar and keep thinking about it. It'll pull the memory back." she said like she had done this before. Then I heard her mutter under her breath "I hope."

So she was just as lost as me. This was just peachy….

Then again it's not like I had a plan.

So tried to think of something that felt familiar. I went through various things I had come in contact with in the hospital, thought about the people there, what they said how they acted, but nothing brought anything. So out of sheer boredom and slight randomness I thought about black because at the moment that was all I was seeing. This, for some weird reason, brought a bunch of emotions to the forefront of my thoughts. I felt sad, scared, and nervous which I kind of understood based on what the nurses had told me about how I got to the hospital. Then there were the ones I didn't understand. I felt happy, hopeful, and something I couldn't quite name. After a little while I felt like the darkness had become a person, almost like they were standing in front of me.

"Open your eyes." said the girl from behind me in a voice no higher than a whisper. When I opened them I saw a wall of chest that was covered by a plain black t-shirt. I looked up and into dark eyes I could've sworn were ones I knew well. "Who are you?" I asked him.

He smirked at me and felt my heart speed up. "I'm the one you trust." and before I could interrogate him any further he shifted into someone else. This guy had on a plain white t-shirt and jeans with blue eyes and spiky blond hair.

Before I could even ask him anything he said "I'm the one who makes you laugh." Then he changed into girl with dark skin, curly brown hair, a hot pink shirt, and jeans.

"I'm the nosey one you know you love." she said with a grin then morphed into girl with brown eyes and brown hair, a purple T and cute little skirt.

"I'm the one you can count on." She, then, left like the other and in her place stood a little boy that looked like a copy of the boy in the white T except he was in all camo.

"I'm your little trouper." he said with a big grin on his face. I barely had time to return it before he was gone and was replaced with a little girl with blond hair, blue eyes and a pretty white dress.

"I'm the one you took care of." she told me. Then, unlike the others, she walked past me. I turned and saw that all the people I had just meant were there behind me. The two boys that were copies of each other stood off to the left and the two girls that were in jeans stood off to the right. The boy all in black had his arm around the waist of the girl I had meat the first time I was here while she held the little girl in the white dress. They were all doing their version of a smile as they looked at me.

Then, as if on cue, they all said in unison "We are what you lost and we are what you will find."

Then I woke up.

**Fang's POV**

_Think. Think. Think. Where could she be? Where would she have gone?_

This was basically all that was going through my head as I paced around my room, down the hall, down the stairs, around the living room, across the foyer, around the kitchen, around the dining room, through the kitchen, up the stairs, down the hall, around my room, and, well, you get the picture.

You may be wondering why I'm at my house and not at the police station helping find Max. Well, I had been till everyone started dragging me home because I hadn't slept in God knows how long and they were worried. Unlike the rest of my family, though, I knew there was no way I was going to get to sleep while Max was still missing. Mom had told me to try and sleep but after about ten minutes of not doing anything I thought I was going to have a psychotic break so I started pacing.

After about an hour of this Iggy got straight in path as I was walking around the kitchen. I stopped quickly so I wouldn't run into him and simply blink. I hadn't really been expecting this, mostly because I hadn't even known he was in here until he was right in front of me.

"Would you quick with the pacing! You've been in here five times now in the ten minutes I've been here cooking lunch and you're starting to get really annoying!" I blinked again then checked my watch. Sure enough it was around lunch time. I frowned at my watch. Why didn't feel like it was 12:30 in the afternoon? I looked back up at Iggy and he read my expression easily.

"Dude, you need sleep. Go to sleep. Now. Before you fall asleep while you're pacing." I sighed slightly and started up the stairs.

Then I got an idea.

Once I got to my room I grab an old t shit and some basketball shorts from the closet and change quickly. I put my phone and some money in the pockets then grabbed some shoes that were by my door. Once done I grabbed some paper and a pencil, wrote a quick note saying I was going for a run and had my cell. Then I walked out my room, left the note on the counter, and walked out the door. The minute my feet hit the ground I was running. I figured if this made Max feel better then I guess I should give it a try.

After a while I stopped thinking about everything other than the feeling of running and the exhaustion/ numbness that comes with it.

**Hey people :D**

**Questions? Comments? Complaints? **

**Hit the review button and send them to me :D (and make sure I can reply to it if you want to be replied to. just saying)**


	26. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**Fang's POV**

I don't know how long I ran like that. I just kept going and going until I thought I was going to drop and then still I kept running.

I heard a loud sound that sort of got me half out of thoughts and back to the real world. I figured out that I was running in the middle of a road with a car that was heading my way. I immediately swerved to the right. As the car past I stopped and watched it. It didn't stop honking at me until it was about 10 yards away from me.

I blinked at it still a little muddled up after being in my head for so long. Once the car was out of sight I looked up the road to find I had run all the way to the city. I felt my eyebrows come together and started running to the town with calculations and theories running through my head. As I ran I felt new hope fill me.

I might have just figure out where Max may be.

**Max's POV **

When I woke up I heard the rapid beeping of several machines and they all seemed very unhappy with whatever they were reading. But they all seemed very distance because my senses were being bombarded by the millions of memories one accumulates over one's lifetime.

I was seeing images of things superimposed over images of things superimposed over images of things; well I think you get the idea. I was hearing voices and noises that I knew, logically, weren't there but I still felt and reacted like they were. You don't even want to know what I was feeling, physically or emotionally.

To sum it all up everything was going haywire and I didn't know half of what was going on. So I just sat there and let all the memories wash over me. Every once in a while one of the memories came to the forefront of my mind and senses and things made sense for a little while. Then I would get plunged in to the deluge of weird, unexplained sights, sounds, and feelings that had become my mind.

Once things started calming down and what I was seeing in front of me wasn't fifty different images at once, but instead the plain white ceiling of the hospital I figured it might be safe to move a little bit. I moved my hand up to my face to wave it in front of my eyes. They seemed to be ok except for them being pretty blurry. I wiped gently at one of them and figured out that I was crying. I sniffled a little while I cried.

I figured if I just lay there and didn't think about much all the horrible memories would go away. But with the luck I'd been having lately guess what I remembered most…

**Fang's POV**

I ran full blast into the building that looked a lot like the police station back home but bigger. Probably because it was the police station for the city.

I entered some sort of waiting room and immediately zeroed in on the receptionist type person sitting at a desk behind barred windows. I walked over and rung the little bell to get her attention. She looked up from whatever she had been working on and asked in a polite and to-the-point voice "Yes?"

I ran through my head what I could ask her. The possibilities slimmed severely when I realized no one knew me here. If I randomly asked them to do a search for me they would probably laugh in my face and tell me to go home. If I told them I was looking for someone they would tell me to take a number. Asking to use the phone would be extremely redundant since I had my cell I my pocket. I really had no reason to bother this person.

So why the heck was I in here again?

I closed my eyes and sighed tiredly. "Never mind." I told her a pleasant enough voice and walked out the building. I took my cell out my pocket and started scrolling through numbers.

God I really need some sleep…

**Alright. Life suxs. That's all I got and I'm sticking w/ it. Plus I got a danm writer's block. Anyway please review and give me some ideas of what I can put in here. And this time I'll try to update quicker :D **


	27. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**Max's POV**

After a while I pulled myself together and sat up. I was just about to get out of bed when a nurse came in a checked on how I was healing up. She said I was going to be fine and, physically, I'm sure I was. Mentally, I wasn't so sure about anymore.

Once she was done with her exam of me she said I had to talk to the police. As she walked out the room to get them I thought to myself _well, here goes nothing_. I stood at the foot of my hospital bed and waited. A few seconds later two police people, one man and one woman, came in.

The man asked me "Please, sit down, this won't take long." I looked down at the ground and smirked a little as if through muscle memory. He must think I was normal or something. "Stop trying to make me feel better. You're not very go at it plus all you want is to get out of here and onto a better case."

I looked up to see the man was looking at me as if I had just started to speak another language. The woman, on the other hand, had a surprised look in her eyes but I small smile on her face. "Finally" she with relief filling her voice while she looked up at the ceiling as if giving it thanks "someone with a little backbone!" Then she looked back down at me with a smirk similar to my own (at least what I thought it looked like) and said "I thought you were going to be all soft and stuff like most girls your age who go through something like this. We haven't had someone like you in years."

Well at least someone was happy with my response because I had no idea where it had come from. It's like I had acted sarcastically on reflex. If that's even possible. Is it? I mentally shook my head and focus on the two cops in front of me again.

The man looked at me and shook his head in mock hopelessness. "Great. Now I have to deal with two stubborn women. Just great." He sighed to himself then started questioning me. I won't bore you with the details but I will say this: Sarcasm is a reflex and the girl cop, Zoe, and I had that reflex. Steve, the guy cop, was extremely annoyed by this.

But the whole experience did shake loose some memories (not that I told the cops). About half an hour into the interrogation (fifteen of those minutes spent in various staring contests with Steve) an alarm went off down the hall.

The cops looked at each other then went to take a look. A while later they came back and told me my attacker had escaped and that he had left a note. "Who's the note for?" I asked cutting off whatever Steve was about to say. He sighed, still greatly annoyed by me, and said "To someone called" he took out a sheet of paper and read "Maximum Ride. Do you know who that is?"

The second he said that name my head started to go haywire and a wave of memories rushed at me from all sides. Ignoring them as best as I could I replied "Yeah… I think… I do."

**Fang's POV**

I finally found the number I was looking for and pressed the call button. It rang a couple times then, finally, Iggy picked up saying "Fang! Where are you man I've been looking for you everywhere and-!" I mentally sighed then yelled "Iggy! Stop pulling a Nudge!" There was a few moments of silence then Iggy said "Sorry. I think I've been hanging out with Nudge a little too much. But seriously dude where have you been!"

I walked around the police building and a little way into an alley so I would be out of anyone's way. I leaned against the wall and said in an urgent voice "Just shut it and listen Ig. I think I know where Max might be. I was out running on the road and now, an hour later, I'm practically a stone's throw away from the city."

I was about to go on when Iggy cut in saying "We get it you can run a really long time for really long distances but-?" I cut him off and completed his sentence.

"But what does this have to do with finding Max? I'll tell you. Back at the house, before she ran, she told me she was going to be gone for about an hour to clean her room. It would have taken her about ten minutes to pack everything and place the notes. That would have left her 50 minutes to run away. She's fast but with a bag on her back she would have been no faster than me. So my question to you is, since we checked the roads leading into the city, how did she get off the road so fast?"

I stopped talking and waited for him to answer my question because I had a good theory but I wanted to see what his thoughts were on this.

Instead of his thoughts I got his silence.

I checked my cell but it said I had a signal so I put the phone to my ear again and said "Hello?" More silence, then "Dude! And you said I hang out with Nudge too much!" I sighed and let my head hang to where I was now looking down at my shoes. "Iggy. Focus. Please?" "Right, got it, focusing. Um…what was the question again."

I sighed.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

**A/N: Hey I know its been a while but head isn't the most organized place in the world and this sorta got shoved to the bottom somewhere…anyway if I still have anyone out there who cares enough to review please do. They serve as good reminders I actually have a story I should be writing :D**

**For faxforever (and anyone else who may need it): Max ran away hoping to lead this guy, Ari, away from her friends and family. Ari is the guy that got away when her parents were killed. He's been attempting to kill her for a while now but now he has her family to use against her. She runs, he traps her, beats her up, gets caught and is brought to the hospital because he was beat up while being caught. Max is also in the hospital but has lost all memory of who she is. **

**PS- I was thinking about wrapping up this story and making a new one. Should I? Or should I continue with this one? Please send in your choice via review :D **


	28. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

**Fang's POV**

After I got Iggy to put my dad on the phone and after I explained to him what I had thought of we finally started getting somewhere. He alerted the police in the city and other things like that.

About half way through his ordering people around though he stopped to yell at me about running all the way to the city without telling anyone where I was going and what I was doing. He told me he sent a car for me and told the city's station to look after me and to contact him when they had me in the building. Personally, I thought this was over reacting. I was also pretty sure that if I pointed this out to him he would kill me next time he saw me. So I just mumbled a few unintelligible words and we hung up.

I got out the ally and went back into the station. The receptionist looked up and did a double take because she probably recognized me. Well, who was going to forget the strange teenager that came in running full blast into the lobby just to say never mind and leave? I know I wouldn't have. She gave me a questioning look that became even more so when I walked up to her desk for the second time that night. This time, at least, I looked a little more sane.

I told her who I was and who had called her boss. She, of course, didn't believe me and had to call her boss who then told her to let me in. She gave me directions to his office and off I went. When I got there he was sitting at his desk talking with a woman who was, most likely, an officer here. He motioned for me to sit down then told the woman to go on. She looked me over and I could practically see her filing me away into the 'weird people' folder of her mind.

"Well, as I was saying boss," she said, picking up the conversation form where it had dropped, "the guy is nowhere to be found. Either he slipped past our men or he got out before we could get people to secure the building. I'm not sure how either could have happened, boss. Steve stayed to figure it out." The 'boss' seemed very aggravated by this news. "Damn it! What about the girl? Did the note ring any bells for her?" the 'boss' asked the officer.

The officer smiled a little while she remembered something. Presumably about this girl the 'boss' had asked about. "She's a handful, that one. Even without any memory of who she is or what happened to her she's got more guts than most girls her age." The officer said in reply. Then she went on saying "We questioned her and she was about as helpful as a brick wall. When we asked her if she knew the name the note was addressed to she said 'Yeah I think I do.' Then she started talking to herself, then yelling, then she pasted out. By that time a bunch of nurses had shooed us out the room and told us not to come back until tomorrow afternoon. When we ask what that was all about they said she might be remembering things or that the whole thing could have been cause by her injuries. Whatever caused it they wouldn't know until she woke up and told them. That is if she tells anyone anything at all."

The 'boss' looked deep in thought and asked "What did she tell you?" She gave and exasperated and dramatic sigh, saying "Did I not just compare the girl to a brick wall? Must I tell you exactly how many words I've heard a brick wall say?"

At this I had to chuckle. Not only was this exchange hilarious but it sounded as if they had someone as bad as Max to deal with. They both immediately stopped talking and looked at me. I stopped chuckling and the officer asked me in a very annoyed voice "Do I amuse you, Chuckles?" That was a weirder nickname than Fang, wow.

I replied, almost reflexively. I've been hanging out with Max and Nudge too much. "I have a friend who's about as helpful as a brick wall when people try to push her around. The person you describe reminds me of her." This seemed to spark the officer's interest. "Her?" she asked me. I nodded looking down at the ground. "Yes. She went missing. That's sort of the reason I came here." I looked back up at the officer and the 'boss' as they were exchanging a look.

Then the officer asked me "What does she look like?" I felt confusion leek through what was supposed to be my impassive mask. "Why do you want to know?" I asked in reply. The officer shrugged but I could tell she was interested. "Well the girl you're looking for has the same personality as the girl I have in the hospital. She was beaten by some guy and her cell was smashed. Plus she had no ID on her. She has no memory of her life or anything really. She looks about your age. She's probably a runaway from what we found in her bag. There has to be a reason she ran away. Why did your friend run?"

I stared at her, searching her eyes for any sign that she was playing some kind of trick on me. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't but I had to be sure before I let my hopes get to high. "She left a letter saying some guy was out to get her. He threatened her family. She figured that he would leave them alone if she wasn't with them. So far she's been right." The officer looked at me, puzzled, then asked "She was more than just a friend wasn't she?" I smirked a little and said "She was. Still is. But now we're…" "More?" the officer said with a small smile on her face. I nodded to her in way of reply.

"Well is this your girlfriend?" she asked me taking a picture out of her coat pocket and handing it to me. In the photo was a girl with blond-brown hair. It was cut short and unevenly, as if it had been hacked off or something. She had chocolate colored eyes that I knew too well for my own good with a look in them that said she really didn't like whoever had been on the other side of the camera at the time.

It was Max.

**Max's POV**

Ignoring the memories made them worse.

The poor cops didn't know what hit them when I started talking to myself (technically I was talking to my memories but to them I'm sure it looked like I was talking to myself). Then I started screaming at the memories and that's about when they started looking for the nurses to send me the mental ward. That's when I passed out.

Unfortunately I didn't black out I just got sucked deeper into my head. The voices kept talking or yelling or screaming. The images kept on flashing by. _Then_ it went black.

Cue me muttering about my exasperatingly weird mind.

I opened my eyes (dream eyes that is) to see a blue, cloudless sky. I blinked at it; I had been expected to see more white mist and nothingness since that had happened a few times before. I sat up and looked around. I was in the middle of a forest that I sort of remembered from what seemed like a life time ago but I could also tell was from not too long ago. Cue more muttering.

I looked down at myself and saw that I was still in that all white get up I had been in every time I dreamed. I sighed then "Hello again." I looked up and saw the girl with the long brown hair leaning against a tree not too far away from me. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking at me with a look in her eyes that told me she was expecting me to say something.

Luckily I knew exactly what she wanted me to say. Sure. We'll go with that.

"Sup?" I said in my oh-so intellectual way. She chuckled at me then walked over to where I was sitting on the ground. She offered me a hand up and I took it. Once I was standing I looked around a little better and saw that the girl and I weren't alone. The six other kids from my previous dream were there too. All seven, the four girls and the three guys, stared at me.

I decided to focus on the littlest girl in the white dress. "Do you know what's going on?" I asked her. She smiled at me apologetically and replied "No. Can you answer my question though?" She had asked me so sweetly I figured I might as well try. "Sure, kid, I'll try." She smiled then asked me "What's my name?"

I opened my mouth to tell her I honestly had no clue but then it was like… someone changed the channel. One moment I'm in a forest with seven other people. Now I'm in a house watching the little girl run down the stairs and into the arms of the blond-brown haired girl with the boy in black holding the door open for her. Then the channel changed again and I knew her name. "Angel." I said with every single memory of her I ever had come to me as if they had never left. "How could I have ever forgotten?" I told her. She smiled at me then said "Thanks Max."

I blinked at her in confusion then asked her "Wait. Why'd you call me-!" but it was no use. She had already turned around and started running deeper into the forest. I didn't bother running after her. I had other people to name.

I turned to the little boy. He smiled at me and asked me "What's my name?" The channel flipped and I was watching the little boy and the bigger copy of him in what I think was a backyard. The little one was hanging on the back of the bigger one and laughing manically with the girl with the blond-brown hair watching from a safe distance and rolling her eyes. I smiled a little at the scene then the channel flipped back. "You're Gazzy." I said while I ruffled his hair. He smiled said "Thanks Max." then took off like his sister had. I was surprised he didn't detonate a smoke bomb on his way out.

I turned to the next person which was the girl in the purple T and skirt. She looked really hopeful and really worried at the same time as she said "What's my name?" It flipped and both girls with straight brown hair were sitting in a kitchen and talking and laughing and having an all around good time. I blinked and I was back. "Hey Ella." I told her. She grinned. "Thanks Max." she said, then waved bye and ran. I sighed a little wishing I knew why they called me that.

I turned to the girl with the curly hair and she immediately ask "What's my name! What's my name! Oh! I wonder if-" Lucky for me the scene flipped to the talkative girl dragging the blond-brown haired girl through a mall. I laughed at that. I mean, come on, who wouldn't? The channel flipped and she was still talking. "-my name will be, like, I don't know-" I put my hand over her mouth before she could talk my ears off. "Nugde! Ok! You're name is Nugde!" I felt her grin under my hand. Then she said something that was muffled (although I could guess what it was), turned, and skipped off.

I rolled my eyes at her then moved to the next person. The boy with the white T looked at me and said "Well you know the drill by now." Apparently that was good enough because the scene flipped and he walked in with spiky hair, jeans and a T shirt. Except he was blackened from head to foot in what looked like ash. The only place untouched by the stuff was a safety-glasses- sized space on his face. The girl with the blond-brown hair stood there laughing at him like there was no tomorrow. Heck I was laughing at him like there was no tomorrow! I was back in the forest but I was still laughing at the memory. Once my laughing fit had calmed a little I saw him smirking at me. "I told you I was the one that made you laugh." I grinned at him and replied "You sure do Iggy." He gave me a half hearted salute and said "See ya, Maxie." before he turned tail and ran. I felt extremely annoyed by his comment although I didn't know why.

Then I turned to see the next person was the boy in black. He gave me a half smile and raised one of his eyebrows at me. Before I could tell him to just tell me what he wanted the scene changed and I was watching younger versions of him and the blond-brown haired girl. They hugged then he got in a car and left. The blond-brown haired girl was crying and the whole scene was making me sad, as you could imagine, but a lot sadder than it should have made me. By the time the scene flipped back I was confuse about that scene and all the memories that came after it. He was still giving me that questioning look so I told him "You're Fang." He smiled an all out smile, hugged me, kissed me on the forehead, and then let me go. "Thanks Max." was all he said before he turned and walked into the forest like everyone else.

Then I turned to the girl with the blond-brown hair. "So what's my name?" she asked. Then things got tricky. There was no one memory that showed it all. It was a whirlwind of too many to count and most of them were so bad I was glad they didn't stick around too long. When the scene finally switched back to her she was smiling at me like she already knew the answer.

"You're…We're…We're Max. We are Maximum Ride."

**Ok here you go**

**Also I think ppl have been freaking out needlessly. If I end this story I'm going to tie up all the loose ends **_**then**_** end it. but I think I have an idea as to how I can make it longer. Anyway let me answer to reviews I got that I couldn't reply to:**

**NITESIDE - TAYLAH – TYLER: does the above help?**

**Poolday: yes this is my first fan fiction :D**

** Alright over and out till next time guys :P**


	29. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

**Fang's POV**

"Max." I had let the word escape my mouth in a whisper before I could do anything about it.

"What did you just say?" the officer asked. She sounded extremely excited about something.

I blinked a few times then said "That's Max! The friend of mine I was talking about before. Where is she? How'd you find her? Can you give me directions to where she is? If you can I don't even need a car, I swear. I can just run over there and –"

"Calm down, kid!" said the chief as the officer grinned in utter glee. I turned my head and looked over at the 'boss'. I hadn't realized it while I was talking but I had gotten up and started walking towards the officer. My voice had been getting a little louder with each question until it was about a fourth of the way to a normal person's yell.

"Alright kid" said the chief "why the hell are you in my office and how well do you know this girl?" I looked over at the man sitting in his desk trying to regain control over his office. I turned until I was facing him head on and proceeded to tell him everything, and I do mean everything. To hell that Max would kill me, I needed to find her. I gave him the note Max had left for me. I had put in my pocket without really thinking about it. The only reason I found it was because I had stuck my heads in my pocket while talking to him and noticed that there was something there besides money and my phone.

Once I was done tell him all about what had happened, what theories I had, and exactly what everyone did and didn't know he nodded. Then he told the officer, Zoe he called her, to bring me to the hospital and tell me about the case on the way. He also said he'd call my dad and tell him what was going on. I knew he was going to tell my dad everything I had told him then dad would tell the rest of the family. Exactly what Max had been trying to avoid in the first place.

So much for that plan, I suppose.

After all of that Officer Zoe led me outside the chief's office and in to the area of cubicles. Once she had led me through a complicated series of twist and turns we stopped just outside one that had a man leaning against a desk reading notes out of a notebook and looking extremely frustrated.

"Steve!" yelled Officer Zoe.

The man's head popped up and he said "What!"

"We've got a lead." she told him with extreme glee. Then she turned and started walking through the cubicles again. The man walked up to me and looked me up and down.

"Are you the new lead?" he asked me as if this was perfectly normal. I nodded my head. "Alright, Zoe will fill us in on the way to where ever we're going. Come on." Then he started walking in the same direction Officer Zoe had headed off in. I followed him, assuming that the two were partners and that we were all headed to the same place. Once we got out of the jungle of cubicles Officer Steve turned right walked a few feet then turned left and out a door. Once we were outside he took a few steps and stopped.

I stopped next to him and after a few seconds of just standing there asked "Why are we just standing here?" Officer Steve held up one hand and raised three fingers on it. Then he counted down until one was left up, he then pointed with the finger to the left. I looked over that way and saw a pair of headlights turn sharply towards us after just having come around a corner. They advance towards us at an alarming rate and came to a screeching halt right in front of us. Officer Steve opened the door to the passenger side and I followed suit opening the backseat door. We ducked in and I slid to the middle of the seat.

"Show off." said Steve to Zoe. She grinned manically at him and I had the good luck to buckle my seat belt before she started going ninety miles an hour again.

"So have you filled him in yet?" Zoe asked Steve as we went careening down the street.

"No" he replied "but I'll do that now, if you want." She made an extremely sharp turn where I swear two of the wheels came up off the ground.

Once we had landed she smiled and, without taking her eyes off the road, said "Sure."

Steve shook his head in what seemed like mild embarrassment and said "Kid, what's your name?"

I looked him in the eye through the rear view mirror and replied "Fang." He smiled a little, seemingly amused by my nick-name.

"Well, Fang, why are you our new lead?" I told him what I had told the chief and his partner. He took it all in and said "Damn…just damn." I smirked at that. Max had that affect on people. "Alright, kid, here's what we've found so far…" He told me about who and how they found her. They told me what they had learned through there interrogation and how she had amnesia but probably remember more than she was telling. They told me that the man that had attacked her had escaped and that they had no idea how he escaped and where he was now. This made me especial mad, not so much that he had gotten away but that I hadn't been there to protect her in the first place.

I told them that I thought that the man that was after her was the one that had attacked her and they said they agreed with my theory. After a few more two wheeled turns and whip-lash inducing stops and starts we arrived at the hospital.

And you will never guess what happened when we got in there…

**Max's POV**

I woke up gasping for breath. It was like I had just done one of my runs where I forget the world and trivial things like rest and energy and oxygen. Of course I always pay for forgetting about them but that's just details.

Once I had caught my breath I brought my vision in to focus. I was lying down on a hospital bed looking up at the extremely bright, white, fluorescent lights and extremely bright, white ceiling. I closed my eyes again trying to slow down my breathing, heat-rate, and thoughts because they were all going a mile a minute at that point.

After a while I had gotten them mostly under control so I opened my eyes and sat up. I figured out it still didn't feel to go to move but I got over it. I looked over at the IV bags that were hanging on something that had always looked like a coat rack to me. I read the label on each trying to figure out if any of them were really important. A few seconds after attempting to translate them I thought _Screw it_ and took the needle (painfully) out of my arm. Once that was done I fiddled with the heart monitor until I found its mute button. I sighed in relief. If I hadn't been able to figure that one out I would smashed it to bits on pure reflex.

It sounded too much like and alarm clock for my liking.

I gathered up the wires so nothing would catch on anything than swung my legs over the side of the bed. My abdomen twinged slightly but it wasn't that bad. So I assumed it wouldn't be that hard to stand up. I learned something extremely important in that moment: I really shouldn't make assumptions. I say this because when I stood up it like my legs decided they didn't want to do what I told them anymore.

I gasped but didn't scream and fell back to sit on the bed. It had felt like the ground had collapsed from under me and adrenaline had poured into my system because of it. I took a few deep breaths and did a quick assessment of myself. I pulled the hospital gown back so I could see my legs they weren't all too bad but there were some scrapes and bruises there.

After I double checked and triple checked that the door to my room was closed and that there was in fact no one here I hiked up the dress thing to check my stomach. It was a variety of nauseating colors. The same probably went for my ribs but I didn't pull the dress that high up. I'm just guessing here but I think that the bruises where probably due to being beaten to a pulp. I sighed to myself. He really shouldn't have gotten the better of me but he had. _Now how did he go about doing that_ I thought to myself as I fixed the dress and prepared to try to get out of bed again.

I didn't get the chance to though because right at that moment was when the nurse decided to check up on me and ruin my whole plan of getting up and getting out of there.

"Oh good your awake." she said with a smile on her face. She was the nurse who normally came in here at night. Nichole, I think…yeah that sounded right. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Your chart says you haven't been awake for a while. So are you feeling any better since we last talked? Have you re-?"

"Nichole!" I said somewhat loudly. It had the desired effect of making her stop talking for a little while. "Can you tell me what's happened while I was asleep? I remember there were cops but that's about it."

She nodded then said "Well you're missing a lot. While the cops were questioning you the man who attacked you woke up and got away. He left a note when he left. It had the name Maximum Ride on it. The cops asked you if you knew the name and that's when you passed out. They gave the note to us and told us to give it to you when you wake up. They opened it but they said it didn't say much and wasn't of any use to them. That is unless this Maximum Ride person can tell them anything about it."

I kept my face carefully blank and asked in what I hoped was a calm and slightly curious voice "Can I see the note?"

She smiled at me and said "Sure, maybe it'll help up get your memories back." She picked up my chart and took a white piece of paper out of it. It was folded neatly and had my name written on it in a nice fluid handwriting. She handed it to me and I opened it carefully. The note said simple this:

Dear Maximum,

Will you try to run and hide or will you stand, fight, and fail as your parents did?

~A

The note was simple but I made blood turn cold just the same. I made sure the nurse couldn't see how much this was freaking me out and gave it back to her with slight shrug. I placed confusion on my face and it worked like a charm.

She smiled sweetly at me and said "That's all right honey. You'll remember in your own time." I smiled back and she left.

I let the mask fall and wrapped my arms around my stomach. Then I pulled my knees up to my chest and let my head rest on them, closing my eyes in the process. This guy, Ari, was giving me a choice. He was basically saying 'Do you want to die now or later.' The arrogant jerk thought he had me cornered again. He wanted to see whether I was a coward or if I was still…what did he call it…fiery that's the word!

I sighed and opened my eyes. Sometimes I scared myself at how well I could get into someone's head. I wasn't like a mind reader but if I encountered someone enough or even just heard about enough of their actions and reactions I could predict with some certainty what they were feeling or what they were trying to say. Sounds weird I know but it's the truth.

I shook my head to get myself out of my thoughts. I needed to see if I could get out of here without anyone noticing or notifying anybody. I straightened out, swung my legs over the bed again, and stood. This time my legs listened and held my weight. I stretched a little then removed the rest of the wires from me. I was about to walk over to the door when the door to the closet opened.

It swung out and towards me so I couldn't tell who or what was on the other side but I was sure whatever it was wasn't good. Why are you so sure, you may ask? Well this is my life we're talking about; never easy or simple, always difficult and complicated.

I felt my body slide into a fighting stance without my having to tell it to. My hands came up; arms close to my body and hands loose and ready to tighten. My legs divided my weight evenly and were ready for fight or flight. I was ready for the worst and that probably says something about me and trusting people but I figure I've survived this long, why fix something that's not broken?

A foot stepped down from the slight rise of the closet then the other. The two black shoes walked out from behind the door to reveal the person moving them.

"Hello, Maximum," said Ari, "fancy meeting you here, huh?"

**Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review :D **


	30. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

**Max's POV**

I narrowed my eyes the man who killed my parents. "Yeah. That's what this is. Fancy." I told Ari with as much malice and sarcasm the words could bear to hold.

He smirked that cocky smirk of his and replied "So you've read my note. You've had some time to think about my proposition. What are you going to do run and die a coward or fight and die all the same?"

As I got up and out of bed, willing my muscles to work for me, I gave the guy a grin and said with all confidence rage could give me "Oh I'll fight, all right, but I'm not the one who's going to die. You, my sadistic Ari, are the one who will die tonight."

He chuckled darkly at this and said "You? Kill me? You couldn't hurt me even if you tried, little one."

"Try me." I said with an air of defiance.

He grinned the most hideous grin and told me with all the sadistic glee he could have mustered "Gladly."

He came at me with a right hook I could have seen from a mile away. I dodged it easy and danced slightly out of his reach. "Too slow old man." I said with a cocky smile. At this he growled at me and came at me again. I dodged and dance just like I had the last time.

We repeated this several times until he screamed in frustration and yelled "Stand still so I can throttle you, you annoy little b-!"

Before he could finish his sentence I punched him hard in the stomach then danced out of his way again. "Call me that and you won't be waking up again anytime soon." I told him in a calm but rigid voice. He was doubled over on his knees on the floor. He coughed a few times then looked up at me with an ugly sneer on his face.

"Bitch." he said with all the confidence in the world.

I took the two steps I needed to get close to him and kicked him very hard in the face. I kicked him so hard that he flipped over onto his back. That's when I noticed the dagger tucked into the back waistband on his pants. I grabbed it, the clip on the sheath making a click as it hit the knife covering. Ari groaned when he made a mild attempt to move.

I almost felt sorry for the guy.

Almost.

I freed the blade and tossed the sheath to the side as I inspected the knife. Then I walked up to Ari, who had managed to crawl a few inches away from me while I was looking at the blade, and stood over him with a foot on either side. He didn't notice me standing over him so I let my knees collapse till I was sitting on his back. He let out a slight _oof_ as I landed on his back and his arms splayed out on either side of his head. I reached down with my left hand, threaded my fingers through his dark, coarse hair, and then yanked up so that the top of his head pointed toward the ceiling.

I heard him let out a hiss of pain through clenched teeth. He was only half there because of the kick I had delivered to his head earlier so he wasn't as able to fight or think as well as he had been earlier. (Not that he had been all that good, on either count, in the first place.) Meaning he was more likely to complain than react. This was good for me because it gave me time to get onto his back so he couldn't get back up if he came all the way back. It also gave me time to get the blade that was now in my right hand around his neck to let it rest on his left artery. Even though he was only half there, although he was coming back rapidly, he knew the cold touch of the knife and froze because of it.

"Not so tough now, are you, big guy?" I said in a voice that mirrored Ari's earlier arrogance all too well.

**Fang's POV**

When we got to the hospital parking lot we came to a very abrupt stop in a parking spot kinda far from the hospital. "Let's roll boys!" said Zoe. She and Steve got out the car and started heading toward the hospital at a dead run. I got out and started running after them.

Then I was running with them for a little bit.

Then they were running after me.

I hit the hospital doors with a loud bang and hit the receptionist's desk with slightly less force. "Where is the room of the girl that was attacked and has amnesia?" She gave me a surprised look that was of absolutely no use to me. "Well?" I said with as much force in that one word as I had slammed into the door.

She blinked and seemed to snap out of her surprised trance. Then she opened her mouth to, most likely, yell at me but she was cut off by the crash of the door to the stairwell being slammed open. My head whipped around to stare at the nurse that had a look of pure terror on her face.

The woman behind the desk got up and lend on it while asking the terrified woman "What's got you so wound up?"

"There was that girl…..and that guy with the scar... and a knife!" She then proceeded to collapse in the middle of the doorway. I stood there for a moment then turned slightly to face the woman behind the desk.

"What floor is the girl on?" I asked with a deadly calm tone.

She turned around to face me and said with a voice that only sounded half there "3rd."

I hit the stairs just as I heard the cops hit the doors.

I slid to a stop once I ran through the 3rd floor's door. I looked around and concentrated on listening for anything strange. There was a loud thud that came from the hall to my left. I turned and started running again. I couldn't tell what room it had come from but as I got further down the hall I heard more thumps and eventually zeroed in on the room. I hooked the doorway with a hand and slide to a halt. Once I had come to a complete stop I yanked the door open and took two steps into the room then froze.

The scene before me was something I had never expected to find when I opened that door.

There was a large man sprawled on the floor of the hospital room. His head was being pulled back so I could see the head wound he was suffering from. Of course the knife to the throat probably wasn't helping much. Or the girl sitting on his back.

She was straddling his back and holding his head up by his hair. She also had the knife to his throat and her face was next to but slightly above his. Her hair was shorter than last I'd seen it and she looked completely shocked.

"Max." I whispered. It wasn't loud enough for her to hear but she understood. She looked like she was about to say something but then the cops chose that moment to come crashing down the hall and come to halt behind me.

They both drew their guns just as I turned so I was half facing both Max and them. Max stiffened up but only the man she was sitting on and I could've noticed it. The man noticed and tried to move but she felt it and pressed the knife harder into his throat. He paled and relaxed his muscles slightly so she wouldn't think he was resisting anymore. I wasn't really sure which the man looked more scared of the knife or the cops. Max, on the other hand, was clearly more concerned about the cops and me then she was about the man she had at her mercy.

"Kid, I need you to but the knife down and get off this guy." said Officer Zoe in a calm voice. Max looked desperately between me and the cops then finally decided to ignore the cops and talk to me.

"What's going on?" she asked me. I would've thought her scared if I couldn't see her.

"Max, I need you to trust me, ok? I really need you to put the knife down and let the guy go." She looked down at the guy she held by the hair and frowned in thought.

"Don't do it." said Officer Zoe "You can't claim self defense and even if you could what has this guy done to you to warrant his death? He may have beaten you up pretty bad but it's not worth going to jail over."

Max got a very cold and very angry look on her face. "He didn't just beat me up. He has stalked me since I was little. He got my parents killed. He has been messing up my life since I was four years old! Don't you tell me he has done nothing to me to warrant his death!"

Officer Zoe blink and Officer Steve's eyebrows tried to join the rest of his hair.

"Max if you don't care what happens to you then think about what will happen to the others when they hear you're in jail." She stopped with her eyes fixed on the ground and hidden from my line of sight. "Angel would be devastated if she couldn't see you anymore. Nudge and Ella would lose a sister that they were just getting to know. Gazzy wouldn't have anyone to protect him from being corrupted by Iggy. Iggy would become even more of a juvenile delinquent if you weren't around to slap him over the head every once in a while."

I watched as she tried to breathe normally but during my speech she slipped up once or twice. I watched as tears rolled down what little I could see of her face and fall to the floor. But she still had the knife to the man's throat and it still looked as if she would slit it.

I crouched down so that if she looked up I would be eye level with her then said "But do you know who would be the worst off if they could never see you again?" She looked up at me with a question in her half drowned eyes. I lifted a hand from balancing myself and wiped a tear from one off her eyes.

"Who?" she asked me in very small, very quiet voice.

I smiled at her and told her.

"Me."

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the wait things got busy then complicated the busy and complicated and not getting any less of either so again sorry but deal with.**

**Review please? **


	31. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

**Max's POV**

"Who?" I asked in a small voice I couldn't believe was my own.

Fang smiled that lopsided smile of his and said "Me."

My heat started pumping far too fast for the umpteenth time during this whole ordeal. _How did I get lucky enough to get this guy as a friend? _I asked myself. I looked over at the man I held at knife point and realized that if I killed him I would be no better than him. And wasn't that the reason I wanted him dead, because he was low life scum? So if I killed him I'd become low life scum and, by proxy, what I hated most. Sometimes you really have to hate logic.

I looked over at the cops and recognized them as the ones that were interviewing me before I pasted out. I asked them "Will you shoot him if he tries to grab me again?"

"Of course we will." said the woman. I sighed and looked down at the ground because if I would have looked anywhere else it would have made the next part all the harder. I dropped the knife. I heard Fang move and, in one smooth motion, he picked me up and swung me around and out of the cops' way. My arms were around his neck and my feet dangled due to his height. His head was buried in my hair and he whispered reassurances in my ear as I cried into his shirt.

He kept saying "You're safe. It's all ok now."

And, for the first time in a long time, I actually believed I was safe and that everything was going to be ok.

The cops arrested Ari and told the staff it was ok to come back on the floor. The doctors and nurses were in a mad frenzy because they had to make sure everyone was accounted for and that everyone was ok and, you know, still alive. Nichole came and checked on me as soon as she got back on the floor. I told her Fang and I were going up the roof so they shouldn't worry about me if I wasn't in my room. After we convinced her that Fang would take me back to my room if I started feeling bad she let us.

We walked in silence to and into the elevator. Once inside though Fang press the stop button on the elevator. I had turned and was about to ask him why when he took me by the shoulders and kissed me. I was shocked at first and, it seemed, so was he. After a little while he drew his head back but put his arms around me and rested his forehead against mine with his eyes closed. I closed mine too, wrapped my arms around, and then burrowed myself into his chest. He resettled his head on top of mine then we just stood there.

After standing there long enough for the elevator to become noticeably stuffy Fang said in a quiet voice "Don't do something like this again. I know there is no one on this earth and possibly in this dimension that could make you do anything you put your mind to but please, for my sake, never do something like this again."

I tried burying myself deeper into his chest but I was already as close as I possibly could have been. "I won't." I said in voice that was barely a whisper. He hugged me tighter by way of reply. Then, without really letting me go he reached over to press the stop button again and elevator lurched back to life.

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long but it's not summer there for I have no free time. I'm thinking about ending here and if not here I'd have one more chapter then that would be the end of it. Review and tell me what you think.**


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